Apparatus, systems and methods for presenting content reviews in a virtual world

ABSTRACT

Media content event review systems and methods are operable to present member content reviews of a media content event by presenting a plurality of member avatars in a virtual world, wherein the member avatars present audio commentary about a media content event identified in a user request, and wherein the community members who generated the audio commentary about the media content event have an interpersonal relationship with the requesting user.

BACKGROUND

Media devices, such as a set top box, a stereo, a television, a computersystem, a game system, or the like, are often configured to present aparticular media content event to a user. Alternatively, a user may goto a theatre or the like to view (interchangeably referred to herein asconsume) the media content event.

Typically, a media content event presents theme-based visual and audiocontent to a user for their enjoyment and/or for informative purposes.Examples of such theme-based content includes movies, films, serialprogramming, sporting events, documentaries, newscasts, religiousprograms, commercials (typically of short duration with advertisingcontent), or the like. Serial programming may present a continuing plotand/or theme, often with the same cast of actors, in a sequentialepisode-by-episode basis that is available periodically. Advertisements,commercials or the like may be interspersed within the media contentevent.

In some instances, prior to viewing the media content event, the usermay choose to view information about the media content event ofinterest. Alternatively, or additionally, after viewing the mediacontent event, the user may choose to view information about the mediacontent event of interest. Various synopsis of the media content eventmay be available from a variety of sources that describe the story lineor other aspects of the media content event.

Information about a media content event may also include reviews of themedia content event made by individuals or other entities which beaccessibly by the user. Such reviews may be generated by expertindividuals, such as movie critics, movie producers, or other partiesand/or entities familiar with the particular media content event that isof interest to the user. Friends or other individuals may also havegenerated reviews of the media content event of interest.

Social media platforms may be available to the user which provide accessto these media content event reviews that have been generated by membersof the social media community. Thus, the user may access the socialmedia platform to identify, and then consume, the reviews prepared bythe members of the social media community that they believe may be ofinterest and/or that are pertinent to the media content event ofinterest.

However, identifying particular community member reviews to consume is adifficult and time consuming effort on the part of the user, especiallyif there are hundreds or even thousands of available community memberreviews to choose from. Further, it is very likely that the user may notidentify particularly pertinent or relevant reviews about the mediacontent event of interest.

Accordingly, there is a need in the arts to provide an improveduser-friendly social media platform environment that facilitates theuser's identification of available reviews, and that facilitates theuser's selection of particular reviews that they wish to consume.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods of providing review of media content events aredisclosed. An exemplary embodiment is operable to present member contentreviews of a media content event by presenting a plurality of memberavatars in a virtual world, wherein the member avatars present audiocommentary about a media content event identified in a user request, andwherein the community members who generated the audio commentary aboutthe media content event have an interpersonal relationship with therequesting user.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred and alternative embodiments are described in detail below withreference to the following drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a 360 degree (°) contentreview system;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example content community platform;

FIG. 3 is a conceptual depiction of a perspective view of the 360°virtual world generated by embodiments of the 360° content reviewsystem;

FIG. 4 is a conceptual depiction of a top view of the 360° virtual world(along the plane A-A′ of the 360° virtual world shown in FIG. 4);

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example virtual world generation system;and

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary media device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a 360 degree (°) contentreview system 100. The 360° content review system 100 may be integratedwith a content community platform 102. The 360° content review system100 comprises a virtual world generation system 104 that may reside inor may be a component of a media device 108. The virtual worldgeneration system 104 is communicatively coupled to a virtual worldpresentation system, such as, but not limited to a suitable head mountedvirtual reality display device 106 (HMD 106), preferably via a suitablewireless link 109 (though some alternative embodiments may employ awire-based link). Any virtual world presentation system now known orlater developed may be used to present member content reviews to a useror to multiple users. The content community platform 102 iscommunicatively coupled the virtual world generation systems 104 viacommunication network 110.

In an example embodiment, the virtual world generation system 104 isimplemented in the illustrated media device 108, such as a set top box(STB). Embodiments of the virtual world generation system 104 may beimplemented in other media devices, such as, but not limited to, astereo, a surround-sound receiver, a radio, a television (TV), a digitalvideo disc (DVD) player, a digital video recorder (DVR), a game playingdevice, a personal computer (PC) or even within the HMD 106.Alternatively, the virtual world generation system 104 may beimplemented as a stand alone electronic device.

Embodiments of the 360° content review system 100 facilitate the user'sidentification and selection of particular community member contentreviews. The 360° content review system 100 is configured to generate a360° virtual world 112 that is experienced by the user wearing their HMD106 that they are wearing. The 360° virtual world 112 is interactivewith the user 114 to facilitate selection of community member reviews ofinterest.

Within the context of a social media platform with a plurality ofcommunity members (not shown), a social media community is served by thecontent community platform 102. Individual community members generatetheir content review for a particular media content event using theircommunity member content review recorder 116. The member's contentreview is interchangeably referred to herein as a member video. Anexample member video generation process is described in commonlyassigned U.S. Pat. No. 9,467,718, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

The community member's content review expresses the member's personalopinions and/or views about the media content event, and/or describestheir personal experience while they were viewing the media contentevent. Typically, the community member creates their content reviewafter consuming a particular media content event, although the member'scontent review may be made at any point in time. A content reviewincludes the community member's spoken commentary (interchangeablyreferred to herein as the audio portion of the review), and mayoptionally include a video of the community member that is capturedwhile they are making their audio commentary.

The community member content review recorder 116 is an electronic devicethat captures (records) the spoken commentary of the reviewing communitymember. The community member content review recorder 116 may be a smartphone, a cell phone, a personal device, a personal computer, a laptopcomputer, an image capture device or other suitable electronic devicethat is capable of recording audio content spoken by the communitymember. Optionally, the community member content review recorder 116 mayacquire video content (video images) of the community member and/or ofthe community member's environment while they are speaking.

Each of the plurality of community member content review recorders 116(wherein each community member has one or more of the recorders 116) arecommunicatively coupled to the 360° content review system 100 via thecommunication network 110. In an example embodiments, the 360° contentreview system 100 comprises a virtual world generation system 104, amember avatar generator 118, a member avatar storage device 120, and amember avatar manager 122. The separately illustrated and describedmember avatar generator 118, the member avatar storage device 120, andthe member avatar manager 122 are illustrated as residing in the contentcommunity platform, which has other components and systems (not shown).However, in alternative embodiments, these component may be integratedtogether, may be integrated with other electronic devices and/orsystems, and/or may be located in different geographic locations.

During generation of, or after generation of, the community member'scontent review is communicated to the content community platform 102.The member avatar generator 118 residing in the content communityplatform 102 processes the received community member's content reviewinto a form that is suitable for presentation to the user 114 when theyare experiencing their 360° virtual world 112. Part of the processingincludes generation of an animated member avatar that graphicallydepicts the community member which appears to be speaking their contentreview. Each community member's content review for a particular mediacontent event, and the associated member avatar, are stored in themember avatar storage device 120.

In practice, when the user 114 is experiencing the 360° virtual world112, a particular media content event of interest will be initiallyspecified by the user 114. That is, when the user is interested inlearning about a particular media content event, or wants to consume oneor more of the other community member's previously created contentreviews, the user generates a user request that specifies the mediacontent event that they are interested in. The user request alsoidentifies the user 114 by including user identify information thatuniquely identifies the user 114.

Information corresponding to the user's specified media content event ofinterest is communicated to the member avatar manager 122 as a request.The request indicates to the 360° content review system 100 that theuser 114 is interested in experiencing a plurality of community membercontent reviews in their unique 360° virtual world 112. Based on thespecified media content event, the member avatar manager 122 identifiesa plurality of member's content reviews made by the members of thecommunity.

One skilled in the art appreciates that in a large communityenvironment, for any particular media content event, there may behundreds of, or even thousands of, different member content reviewsavailable for presentation (as member avatars) to the requesting user114. In practice, embodiments of the 360° content review system 100 areconfigured to identify particular ones of the available member contentreviews that the requesting user 114 is likely to want to consume.Accordingly, embodiments of the 360° content review system 100 identifya manageable number of content reviews that are to be available to theuser 114 for selection and presentation while they are experiencingtheir 360° virtual world 112. In the various embodiments, each selectedcontent review is represented by a member avatar.

Embodiments of the 360° content review system 100 select member reviewsthat the user 114 may be interested in consuming. Selection from themany hundreds, or even thousands of, available community member reviewsis based on the interpersonal relationship (interchangeably referred toherein as an affinity) between the requesting user 114 and the communitymembers who generated the content review. Once the member reviews havebeen selected, then member avatars corresponding to the selected memberreviews are then presented to the user 114 when they are experiencingtheir 360° virtual world 112.

The initially received user request identifies the media content eventthat is of interest to the user 114. The member avatar manager 122 thenidentifies all available community member reviews for the specifiedmedia content event.

Once the plurality of member content reviews associated with thespecified media content event of interest are identified based on thereceived user's request, the member avatar manager 122 accessesinformation about the user 114 from the member information storagedevice 124. Information about the requesting user 114 is stored in themember information storage device 124. The member information storagedevice 124 is a suitable memory medium, memory device or memory system,that stores information about that specific user 114 (along withinformation for all community members). The stored information about therequesting user 114 includes personal relationship informationdescribing the interpersonal relationships between the user 114 andother community members that the user personally knows (such as friendsor relatives).

Based on the information about the user 114, a plurality of member'scontent reviews made by the members of the community are identified bythe member avatar manager 122 based on a determination of whether theuser 114 will likely be interested in consuming (viewing) a particularone of the member's content reviews. The selection of particular ones ofthe available member content reviews by the member avatar manager 122 isbased on the interpersonal relationship between the user 114 and theparticular community member who created the content review for thespecified media content event of interest. That is, a community member'scontent review may be selected for possible presentation to therequesting user if there is some degree of interpersonal relationship(affinity) between that community member and the requesting user 114.

Embodiments identify those community members (who have generated contentreviews) that the user has an interpersonal relationship by comparinginterpersonal relationship factors that described such interpersonalrelationships between the user 114 and the particular community memberwho created the content review. Further, a value or degree of affinitymay be determined based on the interpersonal relationship factors. Forexample, a sibling of the user 114 will have a higher affinity valuethan the affinity value determined for a third cousin or a casualacquaintance.

Alternatively, or additionally, other community member's content reviewmay be selected for possible presentation to the requesting user basedon another factor, such as a user preference for certain notorious andwell known individuals (such as actors or the like that the userprefers). Also, member content reviews that are known to be of highrelevance and/or high regard within the community may be selected forpresentation to the requesting user (such as when a particular communitymember is a well known and particularly knowledgeable movie critic,and/or if other community members have indicated that that particularcommunity member and/or a particular member content review is especiallyenjoyable and/or relevant). For purposes herein, these other factors aredefined as defined as interpersonal relationship factors (even thoughsuch factors are not directly related to a personal relationship withthe requesting user 114).

Once the member avatar manager 122 has identified a plurality of membercontent reviews that are believed to be of interest to the particularrequesting user 114, the member avatar manager 122 accesses theassociated member avatar information stored in the member avatar storagedevice 120. Then, the member avatar manager 122 communicates the memberavatar information that is used to generate each of the selected memberavatars to the virtual world generation system 104. As noted herein, themember avatar information includes the associated community membercontent review and graphical information that is used to graphicallyrender and present an animated visual avatar to the user 114 while theyare experiencing their 360° virtual world 112. Video rendering is aprocess by which a computer or processor system processes informationfrom a coded data source and uses that information to produce anddisplay a still or video image. The computer code may includeinstructions on creating images verbatim for playing back a movie or mayprovide a set of guidelines that the processor system uses to generate acustom image such as a member avatar and a virtual world. Videorendering is appreciated by one skilled in the arts to be one of themost hardware-demanding processes for a processor system, especiallywhen images are rendered and presented in real time.

As part of the initialization process (wherein the user 114 first entersinto their 360° virtual world 112), information (data) defining avirtual world environment is used to construct a virtual worldenvironment that the user 114 will see while experiencing their 360°virtual world 112. The virtual world environment is a background thatincludes images of various physical objects. The virtual worldenvironment is presented around the presented plurality of memberavatars (though some environment objects may appear in front of orbehind of some of the presented member avatars). For example, thevirtual world environment may correspond to a “burger joint” that theuser 114 is familiar with. Thus, when the user 114 enters into their360° virtual world 112, the user may begin their experience by enteringinto the burger joint through a door or entryway, and then walking overto the counter and/or tables were the member avatars (who wouldapparently be customers at the burger joint) are sitting or standing.Alternatively, the experience may begin with the user at the counter orsitting in a booth. The user 114 may then interact with selected ones ofthe member avatars to consume their review of the media content event ofinterest.

Embodiments of the 360° content review system 100 may use any suitablevirtual world environment when presenting the 360° virtual world 112 tothe user 114. For example, one virtual world environment may appear asan ocean or other body of water. With such an environment, the user 114may have the perception that they are in a boat with the selected memberavatars. Alternatively, or additionally, other member avatars maythemselves appear to be in other boats that are located about the user'sboat. Location of member avatars would be based on the degree ofaffinity between the user 114 and community members associated with theselected member avatar. For example, a close friend or relative of theuser having a high affinity value could be represented as being in thesame boat as the user, while a casual acquaintance (with a low affinityvalue) may be on a remote boat. The user could then perceive that theyare moving about in their boat so as to be able to approach and “hear”the review by a member avatar of interest. The user's boat may move sothat the user 114 may select a member avatar who appears to be in adifferent boat. Some member avatars may be presented as cartoon fish (oreven real-life fish) swimming about the user's boat that the user 114can interact with (such as by point to, or even catching by usingvirtual fishing gear). Particular cartoon avatars may be selected basedon learned user preferences for types of characters (such as a speciesof animal) and/or actual user specifications.

Another non-limiting example virtual world environment may be the user'sliving room (or another location that is personal and unique to the user114). Here, images of the user's living room could be acquired using asuitable image capture device or system. The corresponding virtual worldenvironment could then be constructed based on the acquired images.

Yet another example virtual world environment could be a landscape thatincludes mountains and/or hills that the user 114 likes. Any suitablelandscape anywhere in the world (or even in space) may be used toconstrict the virtual world environment from captured images of thelandscape. Different landscape images could be “stitched” together tocreate a unique 360° virtual world 112 environment.

Embodiments of the 360° content review system 100 may have a pluralityof predefined virtual world environment templates that may be used byany of the community members when they are experiencing their unique360° virtual world 112. One skilled in the art appreciates the types ofdifferent virtual world environments that may be used for presentationin a 360° virtual world 112 is limitless.

Preferably, the particular virtual world environment that will be usedto construct the 360° virtual world 112 will have been predefined by theuser. Alternatively, the user may specify the particular virtual worldenvironment at the same time as when they specify the media contentevent of interest. For example, the user 114 may specify that the 360°virtual world 112 environment is to be their living room. On anotheroccasion, the user may specify that the environment be a landscape thatthe user wishes to experience. Further, some embodiments may permit theuser 114 to interactively change environments. For example, the user mayinitially begin their experience in their living room, and the change toa water environment. Here, the currently presented virtual worldenvironment is simply changed to the requested virtual worldenvironment.

Also, the presentation of member avatars may be modified to better fitwith the currently presented environment. That is, at least oneappearance characteristic of at least one of the member avatars ischanged based on the second virtual world environment. For example, oneof the presented member avatars may appear as a person when the virtualworld environment is the living room or burger joint. Alternatively,that same member avatar may be represented as a cartoon fish when thevirtual world environment is changed to a water environment.

Also as part of the initialization process (wherein the user 114 firstenters into their 360° virtual world 112), the virtual world generationsystem 104 determines “where” each of the selected member avatars are tobe initially presented within the 360° virtual world 112. The particularinitial presentation location of each member avatar is based on theinterpersonal relationships between the user 114 and the particularcommunity member who created the content review for the specified mediacontent event of interest. Alternatively, or additionally, presentationlocation may be determined based on other interpersonal relationshipfactor, such as a user preference for certain notorious and well knownindividuals, or members who are known to be particularly knowledgeableand/or are held in high regard within the community, and/or othersuitable factors that are attributable to the user 114.

One skilled in the art appreciates that since the 360° virtual world 112is a virtual reality, the initial presentation location of anyparticular member avatar can be defined at a particular perceiveddistance from the viewing user 114, at a particular orientation (polarangle) from the initial user's line of sight, and/or at a particularelevation (azimuth angle) from the initial user's line of sight. In anexample embodiment, the initial user's line of sight is referenced fromthe center of the field of view that is initially presented on thedisplay 126 of the user's HMD 106.

The initial presentation location of each selected member avatar isbased on the degree of interpersonal relationship between the user 114and each particular member avatar. Those member avatars having theclosest interpersonal relationship (a high degree or value of affinity)with the user 114 have an initial presentation location that is closerto, and/or that is perceived to be at a more important and/or prominentlocation, that other member avatars whose associated community membershave a weaker interpersonal relationship with the user 114. For example,close friends of the user 114 may be sitting in the same booth as theuser 114 when the virtual world environment is a burger joint, whileother member avatars with lower affinities may be located farther away.Similarly, close friends of the user 114 may be sitting in the same boatas the user 114 when the virtual world environment is a body of water,while other member avatars having a lower affinity may be in differentboats. As yet another example, close friends of the user 114 may besitting on the user's favorite couch when the virtual world environmentis the user's living room, while other member avatars having a loweraffinity may be in remote parts of the living room or even in otherrooms of the user's home.

Once the initial presentation location information for the selectedmember avatars is determined by the virtual world generation system 104,the information to graphically present the selected member avatars attheir determined initial presentation location is then communicated tothe HMD 106 such that the plurality of member avatars are graphicallyrepresented in the 360° virtual world 112. In practice, when the user isexperiencing their 360° virtual world 112 using their HMD 106, theparticular member avatars that are within the current field of view ofthe user are graphically presented on the display 126 of the user's HMD106.

Here, the user's current line of sight (which therefore defines theirfield of view) is continuously tracked. Based on the initialpresentation location of the member avatars, member avatars that have aninitial presentation location within the user's current field of vieware identified by the virtual world generation system 104. Theseidentified member avatars may then be rendered by the virtual worldgeneration system 104 and presented on the display 126 of the user's HMD106.

As the user turns their head, their current line of sight will change(along with an attendant change in the user's current field of view).Movement of the user's head is sensed by sensors residing in the HMD106. As the user's current field of view changes as they re-orient theirline of sight (by turning their head sidewise and/or upwards, and/or ifthe user 114 physically rotates their body), those particular memberavatars with presentation locations within the user's current field ofview are identified and are then rendered and presented on the display126. Here, this process of identifying and present particular memberavatars what are within the user's current field of view occurs on areal time, or near real time basis, as is understood in the arts of 3Dvirtual world presentation systems.

In some situations, a presented member avatar graphically represents animage of the actual community member who generated their respectivecontent review. Thus, the user 114 may “recognize” a particular memberavatar as representing a friend, a relative, or another known individual(such as an actor or other notoriously famous person). Additionally, oralternatively, a member avatar may be represented as a cartooncharacter, an inanimate physical object, or even an animated physicalobject (such as, but not limited to, a talking plant or animal). Inother instances, stick figures or the like may be used to representanimated member avatars.

Accordingly, when the user 114 is “in” (experiencing) their 360° virtualworld 112, and have specified a media content event of interest, aselected plurality of member avatars are available for presentation onthe display 126 of the user's HMD 106. In an example embodiment, whenthe user 114 selects a particular member avatar, the selected memberavatar “appears” to the user 114 as speaking their content review. Thatis, when the user 114 is consuming the particular content review thatwas generated by that selected community member, the user has theexperience of hearing and seeing the presented member's content reviewby listening to the audio porting or the content review and by seeingmovement of the animated member avatar. Thus, the user 114 mayselectively hear (consume) a plurality of different content reviewspertaining to the user's media content event of interest.

Since the 360° virtual world 112 spans a 360° field of view about theuser 114, many different member avatars can be concurrently availablefor presentation about the user 114. To conceptually describe anoperating environment, FIG. 1 conceptually illustrates that a limitednumber of the plurality of member avatars that are presented (viewable)within a current field of view 128 on the display 126 of the user's HMD106.

The field of view 128 may be defined by an apparent width (W) andapparent height (H) that the user 114 is able to view on the display 126at any given moment. Generally, the user's current line of sight is inthe center of the current field of view 128, although the user's actualline of sight may be different depending upon the actual orientation ofthe user's eyes at any given instant in time. For example, a firstmember avatar 130 and a second member avatar 132 are illustrated in FIG.1 as being currently viewed by the user 114 (since their currentlydetermined presentation location falls within the user's current fieldof view 128). That is, FIG. 1 conceptually illustrates that the user 114is looking towards a particular region of the 360° virtual world 112, asdefined by the current field of view 128, and sees the two memberavatars 130, 132.

As noted herein, a large number of member avatars may be concurrentlypresentable, or at least are available to be presented, when they are inthe user's current field of view. For example, when the user 114 rotatestheir head (that is, changes their visual orientation) to look about the360° virtual world 112, a plurality of different member avatars may beviewed by the user 114. To conceptually illustrate this operationalfeature, if the user 114 looks directly behind them in FIG. 1, the userwill see a new current field of view 134 that includes a third memberavatar 136 and a fourth member avatar 138.

Further, the view seen by the user 114 viewing the display 126 of theirHMD 106 may present a perception of depth to the user 114. That is, theuser will experience seeing member avatars that are perceived to bedifferent distances from the virtual position of the user 114.Accordingly, some member avatars may appear to be located farther awayfrom the user 114 (such as the member avatar 138) while other memberavatars (such as the member avatar 134) may appear to be closer to theuser 114. That is, each presented member avatar may appear to be locatedfrom the user 114 at some predefined apparent distance.

One skilled in the arts of 3D virtual worlds appreciates that a“farther” away member avatar will be presented using a smaller size thana closer member avatar. Further, the farther away member avatar may beshown to be behind the closer member avatar (where the closer memberavatar partially obstructs presentation of a portion of the farther awaymember avatar) and/or behind physical objects of the virtual worldenvironment. To conceptually illustrate this depth perception effectexperienced by the user 114, the fourth member avatar 138 is illustratedin FIG. 1 as being smaller than the third member avatar 138, andtherefore, the smaller member avatar 138 will perceived to be (appear tobe) farther back from the user 114 that the perceived location of themember avatar 138.

Further, some member avatars may be located below or above the user'scurrent field of view (and/or below or above other member avatars) sincethe 360° virtual. world 112 may optionally encompass a sphere ofviewable space around the user 114. For example, the user 114 may lookupward such that they then see the field of view 140 above them. Asnoted herein, cartoon characters or other animated objects (animals,plants, etc.) may be used as member avatars. To illustrate, a cartoonmember avatar 142 that appears as a cartoon bird is viewable by the userwhen looking at a field of view that corresponds to the field of view140.

Since each member avatar may look different to the user 114, the user114 may be able to identify particular community members who havegenerated a content review that they wish to listen to (that is,consume). For example, the user 114 may choose to listen to consume) thecontent review generated by a recognizable friend or other individual ofinterest. Accordingly, embodiments of the 360° content review system 100provide an efficient system and method for the user 114 to identify apotentially interesting review from among many different availablereviews based on the identification of the community member whogenerated the associated content review, and based on the interpersonalrelationship between the user 114 and the identified community member.

In some embodiments, the user 114 may specify particular interpersonalrelationship factors that are to be used to determine the affinity forselect member avatars. For example, the user 114 may specify that onlyclose personal friends are to be selected (as contrasted with casualacquaintances of the user 114 or even unknown individuals, who may thennot be selected as presented member avatars). As another example, theuser 114 may specify that only siblings are to be selected (ascontrasted with cousins of the user 114 or other distant relatives, whomay then not be selected as presented member avatars). Alternatively, oradditionally, the user may specify that only well known and notoriouscontent critics are to be used for member avatar selection. In someapplications, the user 114 may predefine the interpersonal relationshipfactor that they prefer (wherein the selection attributes are storedwith other information about the user 114). Alternatively, the user mayspecify interpersonal relationship factors, and/or modify previouslydefined interpersonal relationship factors, when they initially specifythe media content event of interest.

Further, the 360° content review system 100 provides a 3D 360° virtualworld 112 that the user 114 may interact with, in practice, when manydifferent member avatars are shown in the user's 360° virtual world 112(wherein each member avatar each corresponds to a different communitymember who has generated a particular content review), the user 114 isable to virtually select any particular member avatar so that they maylisten to that community member's content review. For example, the user114 may move their hand 144 and virtually “touch” or point to the memberavatar 130, wherein the member avatar 130 will then present theirpreviously created content review to the user 114. Content reviews fromother member avatars that are not virtually selected by the user 114 arenot consumed by that user 114. Accordingly, embodiments of the 360°content review system 100 provide an efficient system and method for theuser 114 to selectively consume reviews of particular interest fromamong many different available reviews.

Additionally, the user may adjust their physical location whileexperiencing their 360° virtual world 112. For example, the user 114 maybe interested in consuming the content review from the member avatar138. Here, the user may rotate their body (turn around) and then walktowards the farther away appearing member avatar 138. As the user 114walks towards the member avatar 138, the member avatar 138 “appears” tobecome closer to the user 114 (by increasing the presentation sizeand/or location of the member avatar 138 in response to the movement ofthe user 114). Thus, the user may approach (walk up to) the memberavatar 138, and then select the member avatar 138 (such as by virtuallytouching the member avatar 138) to initiate presentation of the contentreview associated with the member avatar 138.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example content community platform 102.The example content community platform 102 comprises the member avatargenerator 118, the member avatar storage device 120, the member avatarmanager 122, and the member information storage device 124.

The member avatar manager 122 comprises a processor system 202, acommunication network interface 204 and a memory medium 206. The memorymedium 206 comprises portions for storing the avatar identificationlogic 208, the community member attributes and member avatar attributescomparison logic 210, the optional avatar location determination logic212, and the avatar data configuration logic 214.

The member avatar generator 118 comprises a processor system 216, acommunication network interface 218 and a memory medium 220. The memorymedium 220 comprises portions for storing the avatar generation logic226, the community member generated content review 224, the communitymember information 226, the avatar and environment templates 228, and anoptional browser 230.

The processor systems 202, 216 may be any suitable processor device orsystem now known or later developed. In some implementations, theprocessor systems 202, 216 may be a single processor system or device.Alternatively, processor systems 202, 216 may be implemented as aplurality of processor devices and/or systems operating in parallel andin concert with each other.

The memory medium 206, the memory medium 220, the member avatar storagedevice 120, and/or the member information storage device 124 may becomprised of any suitable memory medium. In some embodiments, the memorymedium 206, the memory medium 220, the member avatar storage device 120,and/or the member information storage device 124 may employ a pluralityof different memory mediums that store information. Such multiple memorymediums may be located locally at the content community platform 102.Alternatively, or additionally, the memory mediums may be distributedremotely from the content community platform 102. In some embodiments,one or more remotely located memory mediums may be configured to becommunicatively coupled with a plurality of content community platforms102. A working environment having the implemented 360° content reviewsystem 100 is anticipated to have thousands, or even hundreds ofthousands, of different users. Accordingly, a distributed memory systemand a plurality of content community platforms 102 working in concerttogether would facilitate the processing of life event informationreceived from a very large number of, or even an unlimited number of,different users.

In some embodiments, the avatar identification logic 208, the communitymember attributes and member avatar attributes comparison logic 210, theoptional avatar location determination logic 212, the avatar dataconfiguration logic 214, the avatar generation logic 226, and/or thebrowser 230 may be integrated together, and/or may be integrated with,other logic. Alternatively, or additionally, in some embodiments, thecommunity member generated content review 224, the community memberinformation 226, and/or the avatar and environment templates 228 may beintegrated together, and/or may be integrated with, other data orinformation that is stored locally and/or remotely. In otherembodiments, some or all of these memory and other data manipulationfunctions may be provided by using a remote server or other electronicdevices suitably connected via the Internet or otherwise to a clientdevice. Other embodiments may include some, or may omit some, of theabove-described media processing components. Further, additionalcomponents not described herein may be included in alternativeembodiments of the content community platform 102. For example, thecontent community platform 102 may support a plurality of differentfunctions and community member uses that are not directly related to the360° content review system 100 as disclosed herein.

In practice, community member generated content reviews are communicated(as audio and as optional video information) from a community member'sreview recorder 116, via the communication network 110, to the contentcommunity platform 102. The communication network interface(s) 218 isconfigured to establish a communication link to each of the plurality ofcommunity member content review recorders 116. Preferably, thecommunication links are established in response to a communication linkestablishment request or the like initiated by the community membercontent review recorder 116 when (during or after) an associatedcommunity member is generating (or has generated) their member contentreview. Since there are a variety of different types of community membercontent review recorders 116, in practice, the communication networkinterface(s) 218 must be configurable so as to receive different typesof communications in different formats from a variety of different typesof recorders 116. Alternatively, a plurality of different communicationnetwork interface(s) 218 may be used to establish communication links toreceive different formatted information from different types ofrecorders 116.

The audio and optional video information memorializing the communitymember's community member content review initially received from therecorders 116 is stored into the community member generated contentreview 224 portion of the memory medium 220 for processing into a memberavatar. Also, the received community member content review includesinformation identifying the particular media content event that thecommunity member is making their review about. Any suitable identifierof the media content event may be used, such as the title of the mediacontent event. Further, the information may identify a particular scene,topic, story line and/or other portion of the media content event thatthe community member's review pertains to. For example, the communitymember's generated content review might pertain to a particular scene inthe media content event.

Further, the received review includes information that uniquelyidentifies the community member (such as their name, their accountinformation, or any other suitable unique identifier). The informationthat identifies the community member is stored into the community memberinformation 226 portion of the memory medium 220 in an exampleembodiment. Alternatively, or additionally, the received communitymember identification information may be compared with identifyinformation of a plurality of community members stored in the memberinformation storage device 124 so as to verify the community member'sidentity. The received community member generated content review is thenassociated with the community member for later use in generating themember avatar, for determining the interpersonal relationship with arequesting user 114, and/or in determining the location of the memberavatar during presentation of the user's unique 360° virtual world 112(wherein particular community avatars are selected and are initiallylocated based on that particular user and their interpersonalrelationship with the community members who generated the associatedcontent review).

Additionally, other information about the community member is accessedfrom other sources, and may saved into the community member information226. For example, information characterizing the community member'sexpertise with respect to the media content event may be accessed andsaved. Information about the community member's background, such aplaces of residence, age, sex, ethnicity, height, weight, hair color,eye color, and any other unique attributes. The community member'sstatus within the community may he accessed and saved, such as when theyare a recognized expert on a particular topic, a particular subject,and/or a particular media content event (where the informationidentifies the topics, subjects and/or media content events). Thecommunity member's relationship to the media content event may beaccessed and saved (such as if the community member is an actor inand/or participated in the production of the media content event). Thisinformation is generically referred to herein as interpersonalrelationship factors.

In some situations, the content review may be based on text written bythe community member. Here, a speech synthesis system is used tosynthesize audible speech based on the text of the content review. Thesynthesized audible speech is then used as the audio portion of thecontent review being spoken by the associated member avatar.

Additionally, or alternatively, interpersonal relationship factorsdescribing the community member's interpersonal relationship to othercommunity members (such as information that identification of theirfriends, relatives, business acquaintances, and/or enemies). Thisrelationship information also includes information that characterizeseach relationship (such as being a close friend/acquaintance, a bestfriend, or a casual friend/acquaintance). Such relationship informationis defined herein as an interpersonal relationship factor.

in practice, this interpersonal relationship factors are accessed andthen used to determine an interpersonal relationship (degree or value ofaffinity) between the community member and a particular requesting user114. Based on the determined interpersonal relationship between arequesting user 114 and the community member associated with aparticular member avatar, the initial presentation location of thatcommunity member's associated member avatar (if selected) is determinedin the user's unique 360° virtual world 112. Community members with thehighest degree of affinity are placed at initial presentation locationsthat are in the initial field of view and/or that are perceived to berelatively close to the viewing user 114.

Once a community member's generated content review has been received,the processor system 216 (executing the avatar generation logic 222) maythen begin to acquire the information that is used to generate a memberavatar based on the audio and optional video information of the receivedand stored member's content review. In overview, the audio informationof a member content review is processed to select audio commentary thatis output by the associated member avatar when the member avatar ispresented in a 360° virtual world 112. That is, the selected audiocommentary will appear to be spoken by the animated member avatar suchthat the user 114 will be able to consume (hear) that particularcommunity member's content review.

Video information that may have been optionally included in the receivedmember's content review may be used to generate a visual portion of theanimated member avatar. For example, if the community member recorded avideo of their face while speaking their content review, then the videoportion corresponding to the selected audio commentary will appear to bespoken by a member avatar that resembles the community user (since themember avatar includes the video of at least the community member's facewhile they were speaking their content review) when the animated memberavatar is presented in a 360° virtual world 112.

Other image information may also be acquired to generate the videoportion of a member avatar. For example, but not limited to, previouslyacquired images and/or video of the community member, graphicalinformation from one or more selected avatar templates, and/or graphicalinformation received from remote devices or websites may be used togenerate the video portion of a member avatar. To illustrate, thecommunity member may have only captured images of their face whilegenerating their audio commentary. However, to create a lifelikeanimated member avatar, additional supplemental information is requiredfor the generation of the remaining portion of the body of the memberavatar. This supplemental information will have to be obtained fromanother source (since the information is not available from thecommunity member's generated content review). Other examples of usingsupplemental information to generate a lifelike animated member avataris described in greater detail herein.

During generation of a member avatar, the selected audio commentary iscombined with selected video and/or other image information that is usedto create a lifelike animated member avatar. Then, supplementalinformation about the media content event (such as its title, storylines, scene information) and information about the originatingcommunity member (such as, but not limited to, their name, theirexpertise with respect to the media content event, their background,their status within the community, their relationship to the mediacontent event, and/or their relationship to other community members) isincorporated into and/or is associated with the generated animatedmember avatar information.

Once the member avatar information of a member avatar has been generatedby the processor system 216 executing the avatar generation logic 222,the generated member avatar (and its associated information) is storedinto the member avatar storage device 120. The member avatar storagedevice 120 employs a suitable database system that enables future accessof individual member avatars based on the particular media content eventthat the member avatar is providing a review about. Any suitablerelational database system may be used by the various embodiments.

To conceptually illustrate an example embodiment of the member avatarstorage device 120, generated member avatar information is stored withthe other member avatar information that has been generated for theplurality of different community members. For example, a first portion232A of the member avatar storage device 120 is conceptually illustratedas storing member avatars generated from a first member's (identified ascommunity member “A”) received content review. Similarly, second portion232B of the member avatar storage device 120 is conceptually illustratedas storing member avatars generated from a second member's (identifiedas community member “B”) received content review. Since any number ofmember avatars may be generated based on any number of reviews providedby hundreds of, or even thousands of, different community members, themember avatar storage device 120 may be relatively large, andaccordingly, the memory capacity of the member avatar storage device 120can be scalable to have any suitable capacity as needed over time. Here,an i^(th) portion 232 i of the member avatar storage device 120 isconceptually illustrated as storing member avatars generated from thei^(th) community member's (identified as community member “i”) contentreview.

Continuing with the example member avatar storage device 120, memberavatars are interchangeably referred to herein as community memberavatar information. A member avatar comprises audio and graphicalinformation that is used to render and present an animated avatar,information that is used to identify and characterize the originatingcommunity member, and information that identifies the media contentevent. The member avatars generated from reviews provided by a pluralityof community members (community member “A”, “B”, through “i”) are shownas being stored in the member avatar storage device 120 in FIG. 2. Toconceptually illustrate the storage and organization of member avatars,the community member “A” has previously created a plurality of contentreviews that were each used to generate a member avatar for particularmedia content events. Accordingly, for a first media content event(MCE1), the community member “A” has provided a review that is used togenerate a first member avatar, denoted as MCE1 Member “A” avatar 234-1(where this member avatar 234-1 is associated with the media contentevent 1 and the community member “A”). Similarly, for a second mediacontent event (MCE2), the community member “A” has provided a differentreview that is used to generate a second member avatar, denoted as MCE2Member “A” avatar 234-2 (where this member avatar 234-2 is associatedwith the media content event 2 and the community member “A”). Anyparticular community member may have provided numerous member's contentreview on different media content events. Accordingly, for an n^(th)media content event (MCEn), the community member “A” has provided areview that is used to generate a first member avatar, denoted as MCE1Member “A” avatar 234-n (where this member avatar 234-n is associatedwith the n^(th) media content event and the community member “A”).

Summarizing, each entry into the member avatar storage device 120includes the data that is used to generate the audio and video of alifelike animated member avatar, information identifying andcharacterizing the originating community member, and informationidentifying the particular media content event that the member avatar'sreview pertains to.

In FIG. 2, to conceptually disclose an example embodiment, the memberavatars are arranged and grouped according to the originating communitymembers. Alternatively, member avatars might be grouped in accordancewith particular media content events, wherein all member avatars aregrouped together for the associated media content event. In otherimplementations, no particular order of storage of generated memberavatars is employed. Such embodiments simply search for member avatarsbased on the specified media content event that the user 114 isinterested in. For example, an index or the like may be used to identifymember avatars and their associated media content event, and to indicatewhere (that is, the storage location in any accessible storage medium ordevice) the information for each individual member avatar is stored inthe member review storage device(s) 120.

Generating a lifelike animated member avatar may be performed in avariety of manners using various information by the member avatargenerator 118. In some instances, the generated community member contentreview may have been created by a community member review recorder 116that was configured to capture the entirety of the community member(from at least the top of their head to at least the bottom of theirfeet). For example, the community member may have been standing in frontof a video camera that was far enough away to have a field of view thatcaptured the entirety of the community member.

Here, the lifelike animated member avatar is generated by firstselecting the audio portion of the generated community member contentreview that pertains to the media content event. The avatar generationlogic 222 includes suitable natural language understanding (NLU) logicthat identifies spoken words for an audio recording. NLU is part of anatural language processing system used in artificial intelligencesystems employed by embodiments of the 360° content review system 100.In practice, the spoken words in the audio information are analyzed togenerate machine representation language, such as sentences of text thatcorrespond to the speaker's spoken words. Any suitable NLU logic nowknown or later developed may be used in the various embodiments.

In some situations, the entirety of the community member content reviewis directly related to their review (audible commentary) about theidentified media content event. Here, the avatar generation logic 222analyzes the generated machine representation language and would thendetermine that all of the sentences spoken by the community member arerelevant to their review of the media content event, and therefore,should be included in the audio portion of the lifelike animated memberavatar information. In this case, the entire audio portion of thereceived community member content review is selected for inclusion inthe generated member avatar.

In practice, selected text (words and/or phrases) from the communitymember's spoken words are compared with stored keywords that areassociated with media content events generally, and/or with keywordsassociated with the particular media content event that the communitymember's generated content review pertains to. For example, thecommunity member's spoken words might include: the title of the mediacontent event, a scene description, an actor's name, and/or a story linedescription, The community member's spoken words in proximity to thetext (words and/or phrases) that corresponds to the keywords is thenidentified as pertaining to the content review for the media contentevent. Any suitable number of keywords about media content event ingeneral, and/or about the particular media content event being reviewed,may be used for a comparison with selected text (words and/or phrases)determined from the community member's spoken words.

However, in many instances, portions of the received community membercontent review are not relevant to, or are not particularly relevant to,the media content event being reviewed by the community member. Here,the avatar generation logic 222 analyzes the generated machinerepresentation language and identifies the sentences spoken by thecommunity member that are not relevant to (or are not particularlyrelevant to) a review of the media content event. The audio portionscorresponding to these non-relevant spoken sentences are not saved forinclusion in the generated lifelike animated member avatar. For example,the selected text (words and/or phrases) may simply describe othercommunity members that they may know, the current date, informationabout where and/or when they viewed the media content event, or thelike. This information may be relevant for other purposes, but such text(words and/or phrases) that do not match with the compared keywordsindicates that the community member's spoken words in proximity to thistext is not part of the content review. Therefore, these sentencesspoken by the community member that are not relevant to (or are notparticularly relevant to) the review of the media content event are notused in the generated member avatar.

To further illustrate operation of embodiments of the member avatargenerator 118, the community member may have started their recordedcontent review by stating their name and/or the name (title) of themedia content event. Here, this portion of the audio content may not beused for the generated member avatar since such audio content is likelynot of particular interest to the viewing user 114. (However, avatargeneration logic 222 that generates the machine representation languagefrom this audio portion could use the audio information to identify thecommunity member and/or identify the media content event being discussedin the received community member content review).

Once the relevant audio portions of the received community membercontent review that pertain to the content review have been identified,then the corresponding portions of the video information are accessedfrom the received community member content review. As one skilled in theart appreciates, synchronization of audio and image information in avideo is well known in the arts. Any suitable synchronization process orsystem now known or later developed may be used such that the videoportions of the community member's generated content review that areassociated with the selected audio portions are identifiable forselection for incorporation into a member avatar.

The avatar generation logic 222 further includes image objectidentification logic that is configured to identify physical objects inthe image information of the selected video image information receivedfrom the community member's recorder 116. Any suitable image objectidentification process or system now known or later developed may beused. Here, one skilled in the arts appreciates that a video comprises aseries of still image frames that are sequentially arranged in an orderof their capture, and which are presentable for a predefined duration tothereby create a video. The portion of received video images that are ofthe community member are identified and parsed out from the remainder ofthe video data by the image object identification algorithm, therebycreating a video of the community member that does not include anybackground and/or background objects. That is, only a video of thespeaking community member remains after the background information hasbeen removed from the video image information.

The generated video portions of the community member (with nobackground) are combined with the corresponding identified audioportions in a synchronous manner such that a video image of thecommunity member speaking the selected audio portions is generated. Thisvideo image of the community member speaking the selected audio portionsis then used to generate the member avatar. In situations where thevideo information included the entirety of the community member (for thetop of their head to the bottom of their feet), then generation of themember avatar has been completed.

In some situations, the entirety of the community member's body may notbe included in the video information portions of the received communitymember content review. In such situations, the avatar generation logic222 may use one of a plurality of different strategies to generate alifelike animated member avatar.

One example approach is to identify the community member's face in thereceived video information. The video of the community member's face isparsed out (wherein the remaining portions of the video information aredeemed to be the background that is not used) and saved. That is, allbut the community member's face is saved for generation of the memberavatar.

The avatar and environment templates 228 stores a plurality of differentgeneric member avatar templates. Each of the different member avatartemplates may have a different appearing body portion and/or may have adifferent animated motions or bodily movements. One of the member avatartemplates is selected from the avatar and environment templates 228, andthen the community member's face is “stitched” onto or superimposed overthe selected face region or portion of the selected member avatartemplate. That is, the face of the community member is added onto, or isotherwise incorporated into, the head portion of the selected memberavatar template. Then, the audio portions are added such that a completelifelike animated member avatar showing the community member's face isgenerated.

One skilled in the art appreciates that there are a limitless number ofdifferent member avatar templates that may be used. Simple member avatartemplates may appear as outlines or stick figures of a person, an animalor an object with a solid colored fill background, such as a black fill.Here, the user 114 would view a presented member avatar as being a solidcolored animated member avatar with the community member's speaking facesuperimposed over the head portion of the member avatar.

Other member avatar templates may be more complex, such as havingclothing or the like of a particular style and/or color. In somesituations, a particular member avatar template may be generated byfilming an actor or other person in their entirety. The actor may bedressed in any desirable manner. Further, the actor may be directed tomove in a variety of motions to simulate a situation of a communitymember talking about a media content event. The images of the actor orother person can be parsed out from the filmed background, and thensaved as a member avatar template.

In other situations, such as when a famous actor or other person ofinterest is used as a basis of a member avatar template, the memberavatar generator 118 can access a video clip of the famous actor orother person from a previously recorded video, Once the background isremoved, then the video portion of the famous actor or other person canbe used to generate the member avatar template. When a member avatartemplate based on a famous actor or other person is used to create amember avatar, the identified audio portions of the community membercontent review may be combined with the member avatar template to createa member avatar that resembles the famous actor or other person speakingthe community member's review. Any suitable graphical animation processnow used or later developed may be used to improve the lifelikeappearance of the generated member avatar. For example, the lipmovements of the speaking famous actor or other person may be modifiedto more closely resemble the lip movement of the spoken words of thecommunity member. Additionally, audio characteristics of the selectedaudio portion of the content review may be modified so as to mimic thevoice characteristics of the famous actor or other person such that theuser 114 perceives that the famous actor or other person is speaking thecontent review.

Other member avatar templates can be comprised of wholly or partiallyanimated characters. Any suitable animated character can be used as amember avatar template, such as cartoon characters, animals, plants, oreven inanimate objects (such as a rock, a car, an airplane, a boat,etc.). In some instances, the animation of a member avatar template isspecially made for purposes of creating member avatars. In othersituations, the member avatar generator 118 may access a remote site,using the browser 230, to access images of a famous and well knownanimated character. Then, a desired member avatar template can begenerated based on the accessed images of the animated character. Anysuitable graphical animation process or system now known or laterdeveloped may be used by the various embodiments.

When a member avatar template based on an animated character is used tocreate a member avatar, the identified audio portions of the communitymember content review may be combined with the member avatar template tocreate a member avatar that resembles the animated character speakingthe community member's review. Any suitable graphical animation processnow used or later developed may be used to improve the lifelikeappearance of the generated member avatar. For example, the lipmovements of the animated character may be modified to more closelyresemble the lip movement of the spoken words of the community member.Additionally, audio characteristics of the selected audio portion of thecontent review may be modified so as to mimic the voice characteristicsof the animated character so that the user 114 perceives that theanimated character is speaking the content review.

Alternatively, the face portion of the speaking community member may besuperimposed on the head portion of the animated character (or onanother designated portion of the animated character, such as when theanimated character is a rock, tree or other object). Here, the user 114will see the face of the community member superimposed on an animatedcharacter when they listen to (consume) that particular communitymember's content review.

In some situations, the video portion of the received community membercontent review includes a limited portion of the body (less than theentirety) of the speaking community member. For example, the video imagemay include the community member from their waist up or from their chestup. Here, the field of view of the image capture device in the communitymember content review recorder 116 may have been oriented in a mannersuch that only the waist up portion and face of the community member wascaptured. Alternatively, or additionally, the community member may havebeen sitting down in a chair and/or behind a table, or may have beenbehind another object. In such situations, the available portion of thecommunity member's body is identified in the video information, and isthen parsed out from the remaining background of the video. Then, amember avatar template or portion thereof that corresponds to the waistdown or chest down portion of a generic person or animated character isaccessed, and is then combined with the waist up or chest up video ofthe community member to create a lifelike animated member avatar.

In some instances, video and/or still images of an actual communitymember may have been previously stored in the member storage informationdevice 124. For example, a video of the community member may have beencreated while the community member was talking about a differentparticular subject, a different particular topic, or even a differentmedia content event. Or, a still image of their face, such as from aprofile photograph, a casual photograph, or the like, may be available.Such videos and/or still images may be accessed and then processed foruse in the generation of a member avatar.

In some instances, the video or still images of the community member maybe analyzed to determine physical attributes and/or characteristics ofthe community member. For example, the community member's height, girth,or other physical dimensions may be determined and/or estimated based onattributes of the video or still images of the community member. Inother situations, hair (or even facial hair) color, length, and/or stylemay be determined. Then, when an avatar template is selected (or potionsthereof) for incorporation into a synthesized member avatar, theattributes and/or characteristics of the member avatar can be comparedwith the identified attributes and characteristics of the communitymember so that an avatar template more closely resembling the actualcommunity member can be selected. For example, if the community memberis relatively short in height, an avatar template corresponding to ashorter person can be selected (rather than an avatar template thatcorresponds to a very tall person). As another example, if the communitymember has long braided hair of a particular color, an avatar templatehaving long braider hair of the same color may be selected.(Alternatively, the braided hair may be re-colored to more closely matchthe actual hair color of the community member.)

In the various embodiments, a generated information that defines astandardized member avatar is defined based on a standardizeddimensional information (that is preferably defined using a per unitbased system). In such a standardized system, each standardized memberavatar is defined during generation with respect to a reference value.That is, the height and/or another standardized dimension informationthat represents a standardized member avatar is defined as an expressionof system quantities, such as fractions of a defined base unit quantityor value.

For example, each standardized member avatar may be defined to have abase height (that is, based on a one per unit height). Here, a memberavatar for a shorter community member may have a defined base height of0.8 per unit. In contrast, another member avatar that is based on a tallcommunity member may have a defined base height of 1.2 per unit. Anycharacteristic(s) may be selected to define a standardized memberavatar.

As described herein in greater detail, the standardized dimensionalinformation of a standardized member avatar is adjusted to create aperceived member avatar for each user 114 when the user 114 isexperiencing their unique 360° virtual world 112 (FIG. 1). For example,for a first user, the member avatar may be associated with a communitymember that is a very close friend of the first user (thus, having arelatively high affinity value). Accordingly, based on a closeinterpersonal relationship (high affinity) to the first user, thedimensions of the standardized member avatar will be adjusted so that aperceived member avatar is presented as being in relatively doseproximity to the first user. Here, the standardized member avatar isaccessed from the member avatar storage device 120, and the dimensionsof the standardized member avatar are scaled in size so as to create aperceived member avatar that appears to the first user as being veryclose to their current virtual position. For example, the standardizedmember avatar is retrieved from the member avatar storage device 120,and the base height (and/or other dimensions) may be scaled by asuitable factor (such as 1.2, for example) thereby increasing theperceived closeness of that perceived member avatar to the first userviewing that member avatar in their 360° virtual world 112 (since thepresentation size of that member avatar is increased).

In contrast, for a second different user, the same standardized memberavatar may be associated with a community member that is only a casualacquaintance of the second user (thus, having a relatively low affinityvalue). Accordingly, this same member avatar will be initially presentedas being relatively far away from the second user. Here, that samestandardized member avatar is accessed from the member avatar storagedevice 120, and the dimensions are scaled down in size so as to create aperceived member avatar that appears to the second user as beingrelatively far away from their current virtual position. That is, thestandardized member avatar is scaled to create a perceived member avatarthat has a depth perception to the viewing second user that iscommensurate with the interpersonal relationship to that particularviewing second user (since the presentation size of that member avataris decreased).

Summarizing the process of generating a member avatar, a communitymember's review is received from the recorder 116. The audio portion isanalyzed to identify and select portions of the audio review that arerelevant to the review of the identified media content event. Whenavailable, the corresponding video portions of the community member areaccessed and are then processed to generate a portion of a generatedmember avatar, Next, remaining portions of a lifelike avatar templateare accessed (in cases where less that the entirety of the communitymember is available from the received video information). The audio,available video portions of the community member, and any other neededavatar template information are combined to synthesize (generate) ananimated lifelike standardized member avatar. The member avatar, whenpresented to a user, may then be perceived as an animated full-sizedtalking person or object discussing their review about a particularmedia content event. Generated standardized member avatars are stored inthe member avatar storage device 120.

At some point in time, a user 114 may be interested in learning about aparticular media content event of interest. Consuming one or morecommunity member content reviews is a very effective way for the user114 to learn about the media content event of interest. The user 114,wearing their HMD 106, enters into a 360° virtual world 112 thatpresents a plurality of selected member avatars in a 3D, 360° sphericalvirtual world (interchangeably referred to herein as the 360° virtualworld 112). Each member avatar is an animated lifelike avatar that theuser 114 can see and listen to while that member avatar presents theassociated community member's generated content review.

As described in greater detail herein, two particular novel features inthe presentation of the plurality of presented member avatars arefacilitated by embodiments of the 360° content review system 100. First,since a very large number of previously generated and stored memberavatars associated with the particular media content event of interestare likely available for any particular media content event, embodimentsare configured to select a reduced number of the available memberavatars that will be presented in the user's 360° virtual world 112. Forexample, a popular media content event may have hundreds, or eventhousands of, generated and stored member avatars (each presenting adifferent community member's generated content review of that mediacontent event). Presenting all of the available member avatars in suchsituations is not practical since there is a limited viewing space inthe user's 360° virtual world 112. Accordingly, embodiments select aplurality of member avatars for presentation based on a determinedinterpersonal relationship between the user 114 and the community memberwho is associated with a particular member avatar. Here, each differentuser 114 will likely be presented different member avatars (sinceinterpersonal relationships between each user and the community memberswho are associated with available member avatars will be different).Further, even if the same member avatar is presented for different users114, their initial perceived presentation location within the 360°virtual world 112 will most likely be different (since interpersonalrelationships between each user and the community members will bedifferent). Even if, by coincidence, a particular member avatar isinitially presented in the same perceived presentation location formultiple users 114, such a situation is acceptable in that the memberavatar is only one of a plurality of different selected member avatarsthat are initially presented in the user's 360° virtual world 112.

Second, the interpersonal relationship between the user 114 and thecommunity member who generated the content review are used to determinean initial perceived presentation location of the associated memberavatar during initial presentation in the user's 360° virtual world 112.For example, the member avatar associated with the user's best friendmay be initially presented in front of the user 114 as they enter intotheir 360° virtual world 112. In contrast, the member avatar associatedwith a casual acquaintance of the user 114 may have a defined initialperceived presentation location that is behind the user 114 (and istherefore, initially out of the field of view of the display 126 of theuser's HMD 106). Here, the member avatar with the user's casualacquaintance only becomes visible to the user 114 only if the user'sline of sight, or direction of view (orientation), is changed so thatthe user 114 is then looking behind them (from their initial line ofsight).

Further, the effect of depth perception may also be used to determinethe initial perceived presentation location of the selected memberavatars. For example, the member avatar associated with the user's bestfriend may be initially presented so as to be perceived as being veryclose to the user 114 as they enter into their 360° virtual world 112 Incontrast, the member avatar associated with a casual acquaintance of theuser 114 may have a defined initial perceived presentation location thatis perceived to be farther away from the user.

In practice, a user request generated by a device being used by the user114 is communicated to the member avatar manager 122. For example, theuser request may be communicated from the HMD 106, the media device 108,the recorder 112, or another electronic device (such as a smart phone orthe like) over the communication network 110. The communication networkinterface 204 of the member avatar manager 122 receives the userrequest. The received user request includes information identifying theuser and information identifying the media content event of interest.The communication network interface 204 may be similarly configured likethe communication network interface 218 of the member avatar generator118 described herein.

The processor system 202 of the member avatar manager 122, executing theavatar identification logic 208, identifies all of the availablestandardized member avatars associated with the media content event ofinterest identified in the user request that have been previouslygenerated and stored in the member avatar storage device 120. Next, theprocessor system 202, executing the community member and communitymember (CM) avatar attributes comparison logic 210, compares theinterpersonal relationship factors about the community member whogenerated the content review with information and interpersonalrelationship factors for the requesting user 114. The interpersonalrelationship factors may be retrieved from the member informationstorage device 124. Based on this comparison, an interpersonalrelationship (an affinity value) between the requesting user 114 andeach community member (associated with each of the identified memberavatars associated with the media content event of interest) isdetermined.

Based on the determined interpersonal relationship with the requestinguser 114, a plurality of available standardized member avatars areselected for initial presentation in the requesting user's 360° virtualworld 112. In some embodiments, a predefined number of standardizedmember avatars are selected. The selected standardized member avatarsare those having the highest affinity value to the user 114. Thepredefined number of selected standardized member avatars may vary basedon the characteristics of the user's 360° virtual world 112. Forexample, if the user's 360° virtual world 112 is represented as a roomin a building (such as a library, office, coffee shop or the like), alimited number of standardized member avatars may be selected. Incontrast, if the user's 360° virtual world 112 is represented as a largearea (such as an open landscape, a stadium, or the like), the a largernumber of standardized member avatars may be selected. The predefinednumber of selected standardized member avatars for particular virtualworld environments may be stored in the member information storagedevice 124 along with other the other community member information.

In practice, when a large number of standardized member avatars(interchangeably referred to herein as a member avatar for brevity) areavailable (and exceed the number of member avatars that may bepractically initially presented in that user's 360° virtual world 112),many of the available member avatars are simply not selected for initialpresentation. For example, the initially presented 360° virtual world112 may be readily able to present one hundred (100) member avatars,each at a different initial perceived presentation location within the360° virtual world 112. If a thousand member avatars are available tochose from, then nine hundred of the avatars will not be selected (andwill not be initially presented in that user's 360° virtual world 112).To illustrate, many of the member avatars may have been generated bycommunity members that the user simply does not know (and thus, have avery low affinity value). Absent other interpersonal relationshipfactors, these member avatars would not be selected for initialpresentation. in the user's 360° virtual world 112.

Then, the processor system 202 of the member avatar manager 122,executing the avatar location determination logic 208, identifies theinitial perceived presentation location of each selected member avatarin the user's 360° virtual world 112. The initial perceived presentationlocation of a member avatar is characterized by several attributes. Apresentation location is defined by attributes that are initialpresentation location angles (a polar angle and an optional azimuthangle). A second presentation location attribute is an initial perceiveddistance.

The initial presentation polar angle is measured (defined) from a zerodegree (0°) reference that corresponds to the user's initial directionof view (line of sight) when they enter their 360° virtual world 112.For example, the member avatar of the user's closest friend may bedefined with a 0° initial presentation polar angle such that the user114 initially sees that associated member avatar as being presenteddirectly in front of them when they enter their 360° virtual world 112.In contrast, the member avatar of a casual acquaintance of the user 114may be defined with a 180° initial presentation polar angle so as tohave an initial presentation location that is behind the user 114 whenthey enter into their 360° virtual world 112.

The initial perceived distance corresponds to an initial distance thatthe member avatar is perceived from the user 114 when they enter intotheir 360° virtual world 112. This perceived distance is preferablydefined in terms of a per unit distance. The base distance may bepredefined to be any suitable perceived distance, such as three feet.For example, the member avatar of the user's closet friend may bedefined with a 1.0 per unit initial perceived distance such that theuser 114 initially sees (perceives) that associated member avatar asbeing presented three feet in front of them when they enter their 360°virtual world 112. Here, the dimension data for the standardized memberavatar is accessed and the size (dimensions) of the standardized memberavatar is scaled accordingly (using a 1.0 factor, or is simply notscaled in size in this example) so as to be perceived by the user 114 asbeing three feet away when the user 114 initially enters into their 360°virtual world 112.

In contrast, the member avatar of a casual acquaintance may be definedwith a 6.0 per unit perceived distance so as to have an initialpresentation location that is fifteen feet (6.0 time the three feet basevalue of three feet) from the user when they enter into their 360°virtual world 112. Here, the dimension data for standardized memberavatar is accessed, and then the dimension data is scaled by a distancefactor that adjusts the size (dimensions) of the presented member avatarso as to be perceived by the viewing user 114 to be at a distance offifteen feet when the user 114 initially enters into their 360° virtualworld 112.

In an example embodiment, after the plurality of standardized memberavatars and their initial perceived presentation locations have beendefined (based on the interpersonal relationship with the requestinguser 114), the processor system 202 of the member avatar manager 122,executing the 360° virtual world generation logic 214, generates the 3Dvirtual reality data for the user's 360° virtual world 112. This datafor the 360° virtual world 112 is available for communication to theuser's HMD 106, via the communication network interface 204 over thecommunication network 110, where the visual portion of the data for thecurrent field of view is presented on the display 126. In response to aselection of a particular member avatar by the user 114, the audioportion of the member avatar data is presented by speakers (not shown)of the HMD 106 (and/or by another audio presentation device).

FIG. 3 is a conceptual depiction of a perspective view of the 360°virtual world 112 generated by embodiments of the 360° content reviewsystem 100. FIG. 4 is a conceptual depiction of a top view of the 360°virtual world 112 (along the plane A-A′ of the 360° virtual world 112shown in FIG. 4) generated by embodiments of the 360° content reviewsystem 100. Generation and subsequent presentation of three dimensional(3D) virtual reality worlds that provide a 360° spherical field of viewto a user are well known to one skilled in the art. Accordingly,operation of such known virtual reality world generation andpresentation systems are not explained in detail other than to theextent necessary to describe how such 3D virtual worlds may be improvedin a novel manner by embodiments of the 360° content review system 100.Any suitable 3D virtual world generation and presentation system nowknown or later developed may be used by the various embodiments of the360° content review system 100.

The exemplary 360° virtual world 112 of FIGS. 1 and 3-4 employ aspherical coordinate system to define perceived presentation locationsof presented member avatars in the 360° virtual world 112. A sphericalcoordinate system can be perceived as the three-dimensional version of apolar coordinate system. Alternative embodiments may use any suitablecoordinate system to define member avatar initial presentationlocations, and/or manage presentation of member avatars in the user's360° virtual world 112.

The exemplary spherical coordinate system defines perceived presentationlocations of member avatars in 3D space about an origin point (denotedas the origin point “X” in FIG. 6). Perceived presentation locations ofpresented member avatars are specified by three numbers: the radialdistance of the location from a fixed origin point, a polar anglemeasured from a fixed zenith direction, and an azimuth angle of anorthogonal projection on a reference plane that passes through theorigin point that is orthogonal to the zenith, measured from a fixedreference direction on that plane. Alternative embodiments may employalternative coordinate systems to define the initial perceivedpresentation location of the selected member avatars that are to bepresented in the user's 360° virtual world 112. Here, the fixed originpoint X corresponds to the virtual location of the head of the user 114with they enter into their 360° virtual world 112.

During the generation of a particular member avatar, the dimensions ofthe standardized member avatar are defined at some predefined radiusdistance from the origin point (denoted generally as the distance “D0”in FIG. 4). Accordingly, each standardized member avatar, prior topresentation in a particular user's 360° virtual world 112, has beengenerated and defined based on a projection distance that corresponds toa point on the surface of a 3D sphere centered about the user's head(wherein the location of the user's head is denoted as the origin point‘X’). One skilled in the art appreciates that scaling down the size(based on the initially defined dimensions of the standardized memberavatar), or decreasing the presented size, of the image of a memberavatar will create the perception to the viewing user that that memberavatar is farther away from the user 114 in their 360° virtual world112. Conversely, scaling up the size, or increasing the presented size,of the standardized member avatar will create the perception to theviewing user 114 that the member avatar is closer to the user 114 intheir 360° virtual world 112.

To create the perception of depth in the 360° virtual world 112, amember avatar scaling factor is applied to the height and widthdimensions of the initially generated standardized member avatar tocreate a perceived distance of that particular member avatar from theuser 114. The member avatar scaling factor for any particular presentedmember avatar is determined from the perceived distance that isdetermined from the affinity value between the user 114 and thecommunity member who is associated with that member avatar. For example,if the initial perceived distance is determined to be three times (3×)the base distance, then the dimensions of the standardized member avatarmay be scaled down by a factor of three (or by another suitable scalingfactor that corresponds to the determined initial perceived distance) sothat the perceived member avatar appears farther away from the user 114when that perceived member avatar is presented in the 360° virtual world112.

To facilitate determination of a member avatar's presentation location,during generation of the standardized member avatar, a particular pointor location on the member avatar body is defined as its presentationreference point. In an example embodiment, the centroid of the memberavatar (generally corresponding to the geometric center of the memberavatar) may be used to define the member avatar presentation referencepoint (though in alternative embodiments any suitable reference point onthe member avatar may be defined to be its presentation referencepoint).

With respect to the hypothetical 360° virtual world 112 experienced bythe user 114 as illustrated in FIG. 1, the process of generating a 360°virtual world 112 begins with the user 114 specifying a media contentevent of interest. The virtual world generation system 104 receives theuser request, and then communicates the user request to the memberavatar manager 122. The member avatar manager 122 identifies a pluralityof member avatars that will be used in the generation of the 360°virtual world 112 that is to be experienced by the user 114. The memberavatars are selected based on interpersonal relationships between therequesting user 114 and the community member associated with that memberavatar.

In an example embodiment, the member avatar manager 122 determines theinitial presentation location for each of the member avatars that are tobe presented in the 360° virtual world 112. In the example 360° virtualworld 112 of FIG. 1, For each member avatar, the initial polar angle andthe initial azimuth angle (with respect to the member avatar'spresentation reference point) are determined. The initial polar angle ismeasured from the initial line of sight of the user 114 as theyinitially enter into their 360° virtual world 112 based on theinterpersonal relationship between the community member associated withthat member avatar with the user 114. Here, member avatars having thedefined polar angle closest to 0° have a higher affinity than memberavatars which have their respective polar angles farther away from 0°.For example, a member avatar with a polar angle of 2° (or 358°) willhave a higher affinity than a member avatar that is defined to have apolar angle of 180°.

The azimuth angle may be defined based on a variety of factors, such asa characteristic of the member avatar (such as a cartoon bird, a cartoonfish, or the like) and/or a characteristic of the user's selectedvirtual world environment (such as if hills and/or mountains arerepresented, or if a room with a level floor is represented). Theazimuth angle defines a presentation height (elevation) of the memberavatar that is above or below the user when the user initially entersinto the presented virtual reality world. Accordingly, a characteristicof the member avatar may be used to define the azimuth angle. Forexample, a cartoon bird may have a high azimuth angle so as to beperceived as flying or as being higher above the viewing user 114.Alternatively, a cartoon avatar corresponding to a snake on the groundmay have a negative value azimuth angle.

To conceptually illustrate the determined initial polar angle, FIG. 4illustrates a vector oriented at a polar angle of zero degrees (0°)corresponding to the user's initial line of sight. Here, the initialpresentation location of the member avatar 130 (FIGS. 1 and 3) isdetermined to be the polar angle θ1. That is, the initial presentationlocation of the member avatar 130 (before adjustment for depthperception) would be located on the sphere of the 360° virtual world 112at a polar angle of θ1 (as measured from the user's initial line ofsight) and at the predefined radius distance D0. This first locationinformation is shown as location L1 in FIG. 4.

Similarly, the determined initial presentation location of the memberavatar 132 (before adjustment for depth perception) would be located onthe sphere of the 360° virtual world 112 at a polar angle of θ2 (asmeasured from the user's initial line of sight). This locationinformation is shown as location L2 in FIG. 4. Likewise, the initialpresentation location of the member avatar 136 (before adjustment fordepth perception) would be located on the sphere of the 360° virtualworld 112 at a polar angle of θ3 (as measured from the user's initialline of sight). This location information is shown as location L3 inFIG. 4. Finally, the initial presentation location of the member avatar138 (before adjustment for depth perception) would be located on thesphere of the 360° virtual world 112 at a polar angle of θ4 (as measuredfrom the user's initial line of sight). This location information isshown as location L4 in FIG. 4.

In this simplified hypothetical example, the assumed initial locationsfor each of the member avatars 130, 132, 136 and 138 each have anazimuth angle of 0° (since the heights of the member avatars arepresented as being on a level with the user 114). That is, these memberavatars, when presented in the user's 360° virtual world 112, will allbe perceived by the user to be located on the same horizontal plane asthe user 114. In contrast, the bird-like cartoon member avatar 140 ispresented as being located above the viewing user 114. Accordingly, theinitial presentation location for the animated member avatar 140 wouldinclude a non-zero value azimuth angle that would define how high abovethe user 114 the animated avatar 140 would be presented.

it is appreciated by one skilled in the art that a terrain-based virtualworld environment would have portions of the 360° virtual world 112 withvarious surface heights. For example, the 360° virtual world 112 maysimulate a geographic terrain with mountains, hills and/or valleys.Thus, the initial locations for various member avatars may also have adefined azimuth angle so as to simulate an elevation to the viewing user114. In some embodiments, the defined elevation (or defined azimuthangle) may be determined based on the interpersonal relationship withthe viewing user 114. For example, the community member with thegreatest affiliation (highest interpersonal relationship) with the user114 may be defined to have the highest azimuth angle, such as if theyare presented as being located at the top of the mountain. Here, theviewing user 114 would intuitively understand that those member avatarsthat are higher up on the face of the mountain are more likely to havethe most relevant and/or interesting content reviews.

Further, the initial presentation location of each member avatarincludes a distance that corresponds to an initial perceived location(distance) of that member avatar from the viewing user 114. Theperceived distance from the user 114 is also determined based on theinterpersonal relationship of the community member and the user 114.Member avatars having a higher affinity to the user 114 (a higher degreeof interpersonal relationship relative to the degree of interpersonalrelationship of other member avatars) are initially presented at acloser perceived distance from the user 114. For example, communitymembers who are close friends of the user 114 may be initially presentedas being closer to the user 114 than casual acquaintances of the user114.

Accordingly, the member avatar manager 122 determines a perceiveddistance for each member avatar based on the degree of interpersonalrelationship between the associated community member and the user 114.For example, assuming that the community member associated with themember avatar 130 has the highest affinity with the user 114, theinitial perceived distance of the member avatar 130 is determined tocorrespond to the distance D1 shown in FIG. 4. Here, the size (theheight and width dimensions) of the standardized member avatar 130 isincreased so that the initially presented member avatar 130 appearsrelatively close to the user 114 when the user 114 initially enters intotheir 360° virtual world 112. In an example embodiment, the ratiobetween the perceived distance D1 and the reference distance D0 definesa scaling factor that is used to adjust the size of the standardizedmember avatar. Other scaling factors may be used as appropriate tocreate a suitable depth perception for the user 114.

Similarly, the initial presentation location of the member avatar 132 isdetermined to have an initial presentation distance of D2. Here, thedistance D2 is the same as the reference distance D0, so no sealing ofthe dimensions of the standardized member avatar 132 is required forinitial presentation of that member avatar to the user 114.

The initial presentation location of the member avatar 136 is determinedto have an initial presentation distance of D3. Here, the distance D3indicates that there will be a scaling (increase) of the standardizedmember avatar 136 for the initial presentation to the user 114.Similarly, the initial presentation location of the member avatar 138 isdetermined to have an initial presentation distance of D4. Here, thedistance D4 indicates that there will be a scaling (decrease) of thestandardized member avatar 138 for the initial presentation to the user114.

Summarizing, an initial presentation location L1′ for the member avatar130 is determined based on the polar angle θ1, a 0° azimuth angle, andan initial presentation distance D1. An initial presentation locationL2′ for the member avatar 132 is determined based on the polar angle θ2,a 0° azimuth angle, and an initial presentation distance D2. An initialpresentation location L3′ for the member avatar 136 is determined basedon the polar angle θ3, a 0° azimuth angle, and an initial presentationdistance D3. Finally, an initial presentation location L4′ for themember avatar 138 is determined based on the polar angle θ4, a 0°azimuth angle, and an initial presentation distance D4.

As described herein, the initially defined polar angle, azimuth angle,and presentation distance for the selected member avatars is based on adetermined interpersonal relationship (a degree of affinity) between theassociated community member and the user 114. Thus, it is most likelythat even if a first user 114 has the same selected member avatars as adifferent user, that the initial presentation locations of these samemember avatars will be different since the interpersonal relationshipsbetween any requesting user 114 and the associated community memberswill be different.

For example, with respect to the member avatars 136 and 138 illustratedin FIGS. 1, 3, and 4, one skilled in the art appreciates that thecommunity member associated with the member avatar 136 has a higherdegree of interpersonal relationship (affinity) to the user 114 than thecommunity member associated with the member avatar 138 (because theperceived initial presentation location of the member avatar 136 iscloser to the user 114 than the perceived initial presentation locationof the member avatar 138). Similarly, one skilled in the art appreciatesthat the community members associated with the member avatars 130 and132 have a higher degree of interpersonal relationship (affinity) to theuser 114 than the community members associated with the member avatars136 and 138 (because the perceived initial presentation locations of themember avatars 130 and 132 are in the initial field of view of the user114, while the perceived initial presentation locations of the memberavatars 136 and 138 are not in the initial field of view of the user114).

Summarizing the process of creating a 360° virtual world 112 for aparticular user, embodiments first receive a user request that includesa specification for a particular media content event of interest. Basedon the interpersonal relationships between community members who haveprovided a content review on the user specified media content event ofinterest, a plurality of associated standardized member avatars areidentified that are likely to be of interest to the user 114 (since theassociated community members have a relatively higher degree of affinitywith the user 114 than those community members whose member avatars werenot selected for inclusion into the 360° virtual world 112).

Next, based on the interpersonal relationship information between theuser 114 and the community members associated with the selectedstandardized member avatars, an initial presentation location of eachmember avatar in the user's 360° virtual world 112 is determined. Theinitial presentation location for each member avatar is defined based ona determined polar angle, azimuth angle, and presentation distance.

In an exemplary embodiment, standardized member avatar information foreach selected member avatars is then retrieved and communicated from themember avatar manager 122 to the virtual world generation system 104.Also, the initial location information is communicated from the memberavatar manager 122 to the virtual world generation system 104. Then, thevirtual world generation system 104 generates the initial 360° virtualworld 112 based on the received information and the user-preferred 360°virtual world environment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of an example virtual world generation system104, The virtual world generation system 104 comprises a processorsystem 502, a communication network interface 504, a HMD interface 506,and a memory medium 508. The memory medium 508 comprises portions forstoring the member avatar management logic 510, the member avatarpresentation location information 512, the member avatar storage 514,the 360° virtual world field of view generation logic 516, and thevirtual world environment information 518. In some embodiments, themember avatar management logic 510 and the 360° virtual world field ofview generation logic 516 may be integrated together, and/or may beintegrated with other logic. In other embodiments, some or all of thesememory and other data manipulation functions may be provided by using aremote server or other electronic devices suitably connected via theInternet or otherwise to a client device. In some embodiments, when thevirtual world generation system 104 is implemented in the media device108, some components of the virtual world generation system 104 may alsobe components of the media device 108. Other virtual world generationsystems 104 may include some, or may omit some, of the above-describedmedia processing components. Further, additional components notdescribed herein may be included in alternative embodiments

The virtual world generation system 104 creates the initial 360° virtualworld 112 seen by the user, and manages later presentation of thevirtual world that is seen by the user 114 who is experiencing and whois interacting with their unique 360° virtual world 112. When the userinitially enters into their 360° virtual world 112 (interchangeablyreferred to herein as the initial 360° virtual world 112), those memberavatars having an initial presentation location within the initial fieldof view of the user 114 (as defined based on the initial line of sightof the user 114) are then presented on the display 126 of the HMD 106.Then, as the user changes their physical location and/or changes theirviewing orientation, other member avatars are presented to the viewinguser 114 based on the current field of view.

The member avatar management logic 510, when executed by the processorsystem 502, manages the communications between the virtual worldgeneration system 104 and the components of the content communityplatform 102. Accordingly, the communication network interface 504communicatively couples the virtual world generation system 104 to thecommunication network 110 (and may be similar to, or even identical tothe interfaces 204, 218 of FIG. 2). The user specification of the mediacontent of interest is received by the virtual world generation system104, and a request for member avatar information is then communicatedfrom the virtual world generation system 104 to the member avatarmanager 122. Based on the user specified media content event of interestand the identity of the user 114, selected standardized member avatarinformation and the determined initial perceived presentation locationinformation for each member avatar is returned to the virtual worldgeneration system 104 by the member avatar manager 122.

The received standardized member avatar information (data) is stored inthe member avatar storage 514 portion of the memory medium 508. Thedetermined initial perceived presentation location information (data) isstored in the member avatar presentation location information 512portion of the memory medium 508. The 360° virtual world environmentinformation is stored into the virtual world environment information 514portion of the memory medium 508. In some embodiments, the portions ofthe memory medium that store the member avatar presentation locationinformation 512, the member avatar storage 514, and/or the virtual worldenvironment information 518 may be integrated together into a singleportion of the memory medium 508, or may be distributed locally orremotely in separate memory mediums.

In an example embodiment, the virtual world environment information 518stores one or more virtual world environments that the user haspreviously specified. When the initial 360° virtual world 112 theselected member avatars and one of the user preferred virtual worldenvironments are combined to synthesize (generate) the initial 360°virtual world 112 such that the user 114 views the member avatarssuperimposed over the selected virtual world environment. In analternative embodiment, the user selected virtual world environment(s)may be stored in the member information storage device 124 along withother information pertaining to the user 114. The virtual worldenvironment information can then be communicated to the virtual worldgeneration system 104 along with the selected member avatars and theirinitially defined perceived presentation location information.

The HMD interface 506 communicatively couples the virtual worldgeneration system 104 with the MHD 106. In an example embodiment, theHMD interface 506 is a suitable transceiver device that is configured totransmit information to and receive information from the HMD 106.Information may be communicated to and may be received from the HMD 106using a wireless medium that employs IR or RF signals. Alternatively, oradditionally, the HMD interface may employ a wire-based connector tocommunicatively couple to the HMI) 106.

When the user 114 initially enters into their 360° virtual world 112,the HMD 106 provides initial orientation information that defines thecurrent initial orientation of the HMD 106 in space. Locationinformation defining the initial location of the HMD 106 may also beoptionally provided. Based on the initial orientation and/or locationinformation received from the HMD 106, the 360° virtual world field ofview generation logic 516 determines the initial field of view that willbe seen by the user 114 on the display 126. Then, the 360° virtual worldfield of view generation logic 516 identifies the member avatars thatare to be presented in the initial field of view. Next, the 360° virtualworld field of view generation logic 516 accesses the standardizedmember avatar information for the identified member avatars that are tobe presented and accesses the associated initial perceived presentationlocation information.

Based on the accessed standardized member avatar and initial perceivedpresentation location information for the member avatars that are to bepresented in the initial field of view, the 360° virtual world field ofview generation logic 516 generates the perceived member avatars (basedon the initial polar angle, the initial azimuth angle, and initialperceived distance for each presented standardized member avatar).Further, the 360° virtual world environment information is retrieved andthat portion of the environment information corresponding to the initialfield of view is determined. Then, the generated perceived memberavatars and the corresponding environment information for the initialfield of view are combined to create the initial field of view that willbe seen by the user 114 when they initially inter into their 360°virtual world 112. The generated initial field of view information isthen communicated to the HMD 106 for presentation of the display 126.

As the user 114 changes the position and/or orientation of their head,looks elsewhere with their eyes, and/or changes their physical positionin the operating environment that they are in, the HMD 106 communicatesthe changing orientation and/or location information that is used todefine a current field of view that the user 114 may be currentlylooking at. The virtual world generation system 104 then generates acurrent field of view that will be presented to the user 114 on a realtime basis, or near real time basis, based on the current orientationand/or location information received from the HMD 106. For the currentfield of view, the perceived member avatars that are to be presented inthe current field of view are generated and then combined with theassociated virtual world environment information to generate the currentfield of view. The current field of view information is thencommunicated to the HMD 106 for presentation on the display 126.

Further, if the user 114 changes their physical location within thephysical operating environment, then the change in the user's locationis detected and is communicated to the virtual world generation system104. Then, the virtual world generation system 104 determines newperceived presentation location information for each of the memberavatars. For example, if the user 114 moves directly forward five feet(referenced to the initial 0° polar angle and as measured from theinitial location “X”), then the initial presentation distance isdecreased for those member avatars that are presented as being in frontof the user, and the initial presentation distance for those memberavatars behind the user 114 are increased. The associated polar anglesand/or azimuth angles may also be adjusted, thereby creating a 360°virtual world 112 is which the user 114 may move about in a virtualmanner. Any suitable 360° virtual world management system and/or processnow known or later developed may be used by the various embodiments tofacilitate the user's virtual experience while in their unique 360°virtual world 112.

When the user 114 initially enters into their 360° virtual world 112,they will see the plurality of member avatars within the virtual worldenvironment. In an example embodiment, none of the member avatars willbe speaking their content review. The user 114 must select a particularmember avatar of interest, and in response to the user's selection, theselected member avatar begins to “speak” their content review.Alternatively, one (or a selected few) of the member avatars mayinitially be presenting their content review. In some embodiments, theviewable member avatars not yet selected by the user 114 may be animated(even though the user 114 does not hear any sounds apparently emitted bythose animated unselected member avatars).

User selection of a member avatar of interest (for which the associatedcontent review is to be presented) may be facilitated in a number ofways. In an example embodiment, the user may virtually “touch” a memberavatar of interest to initiate presentation of the content review of theselected member avatar. Here, a sensor associated with the HMD 106detects a movement of a hand of the user 114. A current location of thehand of the user is then determined based on (and in response to) thedetected movement of the user's hand. The determined current location ofthe hand of the user 114 is compared with perceived presentationlocations associated with each of the plurality of member avatars thatare within the field of view (or alternatively, for all of the memberavatars). The member avatar having the perceived presentation locationthat matches the determined current location of the hand of the user isselected. Here, when the current location of the user's hand correspondsto the current perceived location of a currently viewed member avatar,embodiments determine that the user has “virtually touched” thatparticular member avatar. For example, the user 114 may visuallyperceive that they are tapping the back or shoulder of a member avatarof interest. In response to the selection by a virtual touch of themember avatar by the hand of the user 114, the selected member avatarinitiates presentation of their content review.

Other movements of the user 114 with concurrent detection of sounds madeby the user 114 may be used to select a member avatar of interest. Here,concurrent detection of movement of the user's hands and a detection ofsound improves the reliability of the determination that the user 114intends to select a particular member avatar. For example, but notlimited to, the user 114 may virtually clap their hands over aparticular member avatar to initiate the selection of that memberavatar. Here, a movement of a hand of the user and a clapping soundcreated by a clapping of the hands of the user are concurrentlydetected. A current location of the clapping hands of the user isdetermined in response to the detected movement of the hand of the userand the detected clapping sound. The determined current location of thehand of the user 114 is compared with perceived presentation locationsassociated with each of the plurality of member avatars that are withinthe field of view (or alternatively, for all of the member avatars). Themember avatar having the perceived presentation location that matchesthe determined current location of the hand of the user is selected.Here, when the current location of the user's hand corresponds to thecurrent perceived location of a currently viewed member avatar, thatmember avatar is selected so that presentation of the content reviewbegins.

Any suitable user detection system and/or process now known or laterdeveloped for detection of user movements in a virtual world may be usedby the various embodiments to detect an action or movement of the userfor selection of a member avatar.

Alternatively, or additionally, the user 114 may specifically look at aparticular member avatar of interest which is then automaticallyselected. Eye orientation sensors in the HMD may detect the orientationof the user's eyes and then determine which particular member avatarthat the user 114 is looking at in their 360° virtual world 112. Here, acurrent direction of view of the user 114 is determined based on thedetermined current orientation of the eye of the user 114. Thedetermined current direction of view of the user 114 is compared withperceived presentation locations associated with each of the pluralityof member avatars that are within the field of view (or alternatively,for all of the member avatars). The member avatar having the perceivedpresentation location that aligns with the determined current directionof view of the user is then selected. In response to the selection, theselected member avatar initiates presentation of their content review.In some embodiments, the selection occurs in response to the user 114maintaining their current view on a particular member avatar for somepredefined period of time, such as one or more seconds. If the user 114looks at a member avatar for some predefined duration, then the intentof the user 114 to select that particular member avatar is more reliablydetermined.

Selection of a member avatar may be made when the user 114 pointstowards a member avatar of interest, Here, a movement of a hand of theuser is detected. A current location of the hand of the user isdetermined based on (and in response to) to the detected movement of thehand of the user. Then, a current direction of orientation of the handof the user is determined based on the determined current location ofthe hand of the user. The determined current direction of orientation ofthe hand of the user is compared with perceived presentation locationsassociated with each of the plurality of member avatars that are withinthe field of view (or alternatively, for all of the member avatars). Themember avatar having the perceived presentation location that alignswith the determined current direction of orientation of the hand of theuser is then selected to initiate presentation of the content review bythat member avatar. In practice, an example embodiment compares adetermined angle corresponding to the current direction of the user'shand or arm, and selected the member avatar having its polar angle thatmatches the determined angle of the user's hand or arm. In someembodiments, the selection occurs in response to the user 114maintaining their pointing to a particular member avatar f©r somepredefined period of time, such as one or more seconds. If the user 114points at a member avatar for some predefined duration, then the intentof the user 114 to select that particular member avatar is more reliablydetermined.

Alternatively, or additionally, the user 114 may speak the name of thecommunity member that is associated with the member avatar of interest.A microphone in the HMD 106 would detect the audible speech currentlybeing spoken by the user, and a text recognition algorithm may identifythe user's spoken words. Then, a name that has been spoken by the useris determined based on the detected audible speech spoken by the user.The determined name that has been spoken by the user is compared withthe community member names associated with each of the plurality ofmember avatars, wherein the associated community member name identifiesthe community member who generated the audible commentary of the memberavatar. The member avatar having the community member name that matchesthe determined name that has been spoken by the user is then selected.That is, the spoken name of the community member may be compared withname information of the member avatar to select the member avatar ofinterest. The selected member avatar then initiates presentation oftheir content review.

In some embodiments, after the user 114 has selected the member avatarof interest, the graphical portions of the other non-selected memberavatars may fade away and/or may appear to move farther away from theuser 114. Additionally, or alternatively, the audio portions of anyspeaking non-selected member avatars may be decreased in volume ormuted. Alternatively, or additionally, the volume of the speakingselected member avatar may be increased. Here, the viewing user 114perceives that they are hearing the audible commentary of the selectedmember avatar over other presented sounds so that the user 114 is betterable to consume the currently selected member avatar's content review(since they will be less visually and/or audibly distracted by thenon-selected member avatars). That is, the presented audible volume ofthe speaking member avatar is greater than the volume of other presentedsounds.

Some embodiments of the 360° content review system 100 may provideassistance to the user 114 in identifying the community membersassociated with presented avatars. For example, if the current field ofview presents three member avatars, the textual name of the communitymember may be shown adjacent to or in the proximity of the correspondingmember avatar. Alternatively, or additionally, a natural languageprocessing algorithm may be used to synthesize the name(s) of thecommunity member(s) so that the user 114 audibly hears the name(s). Thecommunity member's name may be announced as the user 114 looks at aparticular member avatar.

The user 114 may deselect a presenting member avatar at any time suchthat the content review ends. For example, the user 114 may look awayfrom a currently presenting member avatar to stop or halt presentationof the currently presenting content review. Alternatively, the user maystop their virtual touch of the presenting member avatar. Alternatively,or additionally, the user 114 may speak a voice command (such as bystaying “stop” or the like). In response to the user's indication,presentation of the content review is halted.

In some applications, the graphical portion of all member avatars may beanimated in some manner, such as by being presented as talking (eithertheir content review and/or random conversation), but the user 114 doesnot hear any sound from these animated member avatars. When the user 114looks at a specific member avatar, the user 114 then hears the contentreview of that particular member avatar. If the user looks away and/ortowards another member avatar, the user 114 no longer hears that memberavatar's content review.

In some applications, a “visual zoom” in effect may appear to bring theselected member avatar closer to the user (or conversely, give the user114 the sensation that they are moving closer to the selected memberavatar). When the presentation of the content review has been completed,or if the user indicates that the presentation is to end, a visual “zoomout” effect may be used to return the member avatar and/or the user 114to their previous location.

Additionally, or alternatively, an audio zoom in effect may increase thevolume output of the audio portion of the content review. Here, the user114 will be able to better hear the content review, and be lessdistracted by other background noise and/or voices. When thepresentation of the content review has been completed, or if the userindicates that the presentation is to end, an audio zoom out effect maybe user to return the volume to a previous level and/or to mute thevolume.

In some embodiments, the user 114 may change the current virtual worldenvironment to a different virtual world environment. For example, thecurrent virtual world environment may be the above-described burgerjoint. The user 114 may switch to a different virtual world environment,such as the body of water environment. The change may be made inresponse to a verbal command spoken by the user. Alternatively, oradditionally, the user 114 may initiate the change using an electronicdevice, such as a remote control or the like,

Some member avatars may be configured to interact with the user 114(defined herein as a touchable member avatar). For example, if the user114 likes or agrees with the member avatar's content review, the usermay “high five” or interact with that member avatar to demonstrate alike or preference for that content review. For example, the user 114may virtually hug the member avatar and/or may virtually shake the handof the member avatar.

Conversely, the user 114 may take another action to express a dislike ordissatisfaction with the content review. The action expressingdissatisfaction or dislike may be mild, such as by turning away from thepresenting member avatar. However, the action expressing dissatisfactionor dislike may be extreme, such as violent actions pushing, hitting,cutting, shooting or even killing of an avatar that are commonlyencountered with various action type gaming programs.

In some embodiments, the expressed user like/preference or userdislike/dissatisfaction is communicated back to the content communityplatform as feedback information. The user feedback is then laterprovided to the community member associated with the member avatar.

That community member may disregard the feedback. Alternatively, thecommunity member may modify their content review based on the receivedfeedback.

Alternatively, or additionally, the user 114 may speak words to themember avatar while the content review is being audible presented to theuser 114. The spoken words of the user 114 may be saved, and then may becommunicated back to the community member so that they can betterappreciate how the user 114 reacted to their content review.

Alternatively, or additionally, the feedback from the user 114 may beused to adjust the community member's standard of expertise within thecommunity. For example, if many users 114 express a like/preference forthe content review of the same member avatar, then the communitymember's status may be elevated within the community, and accordingly,that community member's avatar may be selected on a more frequent basisand/or be associated with a higher interpersonal relationship factorwhen review of that media content event is requested in the future byother users 114. Conversely, if many users 114 express adislike/dissatisfaction for the content review, then the communitymember's status may be reduced within the community, and accordingly,that community member's avatar may be selected on a less frequent basisand/or be associated with a lower interpersonal relationship factor whenreview of that media content event is requested in the future by otherusers 114.

In some embodiments, the content community platform advises a communitymember when their member avatar is selected for presentation is theuser's 360° virtual world 112. The identify of the user 114 may beoptionally indicated to the community member. Here, the community memberappreciates how frequently their content review is selected, and/or whoconsumed their content review. Further, the community member mayoptionally review or modify (or even discard or erase) their contentreview based on this information. If the content review is modified,then the member avatar is modified by the member avatar generator 118.

Additionally, some embodiments may capture and save the user'sexperience while they are experiencing their 360° virtual world 112.Thus, a community member may later view the experience of the user 114,as if they were “walking in the shoes” of the user 114.

Further, some embodiments may be configured to permit the communitymember to interact with the user 114 in the user's 360° virtual world112. For example, if the user 114 expresses a dislike or dissatisfactionwith the community member's content review, the community member mayvirtually “enter” into the 360° virtual world 112 and express a rebuttalposition. The entry of the community member into the user's 360° virtualworld 112 may occur on a real time basis in some situations. In othersituations, the community member's response is saved, and the next timethat the user 114 enters into their 360° virtual world 112, thecommunity member's rebuttal commentary may be presented to the user 114.

In some embodiments, when the user 114 initially enters into their 360°virtual world 112, an introduction is presented to the user 114 thataudibly and/or graphically describes various information of interestabout their selected virtual world environment. Alternatively, oradditionally, information of interest about the specified media contentevent of interest may be audibly and/or visually presented to the user114. Alternatively, or additionally, information of interest about theselected member avatars may be presented to the user 114. For example,the user may gaze about the initially presented 360° virtual world 112so as to see text of the names of the associated community members.Alternatively, or additionally, the names of community members may besynthesized (or recording of the names as spoken by the communitymember) and audibly presented as the user looks at or towards particularmember avatars. Thus, the user 114 is better oriented before they beginto experience their unique 360° virtual world 112.

In some instances, the user 114 may halt the current presentation oftheir 360° virtual world 112 before all content review have beenconsumed. In some embodiments, the current 360° virtual world 112, andinformation about the consumed content reviews and interactions by theuser 114, are saved by the virtual world generation system 104. In theevent that the user 114 later renters into that particular 360° virtualworld 112 to access additional content reviews, or to later consumeother content reviews, that initial presentation of the 360° virtualworld 112 can resume at a point that the user 114 previously left their360° virtual world 112. Here, each time the user 114 enters into theirunique 360° virtual world 112, the user 114 will have a. differentexperience. However, that new experience will be based on the previouslydefined experience.

The example embodiment described in FIG. 1 utilized a virtual worldgeneration system 104 implemented in a media device 108, such as a settop box or the like. Alternatively, the virtual world generation. system104 may be implemented remotely. For example, but not limited to, thevirtual world generation system 104 may be implemented in a remoteserver and/or at the content community platform 102. Accordingly, such avirtual world generation system 104 may include a suitable communicationinterface (such as the interfaces 204, 218) to communicatively couple tothe member avatar manager 122 and the HMD 106.

Alternatively, the virtual world generation system 104 may be anintegrated component or system of the user's HMD 106. Here, the HMD 106may include a suitable communication interface (such as the interfaces204, 218 to communicatively couple to the member avatar manager 122.

In the various embodiments, the communication network 110communicatively coupled the review recorders 116, the member avatargenerator 118, the member avatar manager 122, and the virtual worldgeneration system 104 with each other, The communication network 110 isillustrated as a generic communication system. In one embodiment, thecommunication network 110 comprises a cellular telephone system, such asa radio frequency (RF) wireless system. Alternatively, the communicationnetwork 110 may be a telephony system, the Internet, a Wi-Fi system, amicrowave communication system, a fiber optics system, an intranetsystem, a local access network (LAN) system, an Ethernet system, a cablesystem, a radio frequency system, a cellular system, an infrared system,a satellite system, or a hybrid system comprised of multiple types ofcommunication media. Additionally, alternative embodiments may beimplemented to communicate using other types of communicationtechnologies, such as but not limited to, digital subscriber loop (DSL),X.26, Internet Protocol (IP), Ethernet, Integrated Services DigitalNetwork (ISDN) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). Also, alternativeembodiments may be configured to communicate over combination systemshaving a plurality of segments which employ different formats for eachsegment that employ different technologies on each segment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of an exemplary media device 108 such as, butnot limited to, a set top box (STB). Embodiments of the 360° contentreview system 100 may be implemented in other media devices, such as,but not limited to, stereos, surround-sound receivers, radios,televisions (TVs), digital video disc (DVD) players, digital videorecorders (DVRs), cellular phones equipped with video functionality,personal device assistants (PDAs), game playing devices, or personalcomputers (PCs) that are configured to present a video-based mediacontent event that is received in a media content stream 634 and/orpresent the 360° virtual world 112 to the user 114.

The exemplary media device 108 is communicatively coupled to a mediapresentation system 602 that includes a visual display device 604, suchas a television (hereafter, generically a TV), and an audio presentationdevice 606, such as a surround sound receiver controlling an audioreproduction device. The video portion of the media content event ispresented to a user on a display 608 of the visual presentation device604. The audio portion of the media content is reproduced as audiblesounds by one or more speakers 610 of the audio presentation device 608.Other types of output devices may also be coupled to the media device108, including those providing any sort of stimuli sensible by a humanbeing, such as temperature, vibration and the like, In some embodiments,the media device 108 and one or more of the components of the mediapresentation system 602 may be integrated into a single electronicdevice.

The non-limiting exemplary media device 108 comprises a media contentstream interface 612, a processor system 614, a memory 616, a programbuffer 618, an optional digital video recorder (DVR) 620, a presentationdevice interface 622, a remote interface 624, and a communicationinterface 626. The memory 616 comprises portions for storing the mediadevice logic 628, the electronic program guide (EPG) information 630 anoptional browser 632, and the 360° virtual world generation logic 104 a(if the implemented as logic). In some embodiments, the video devicelogic 218, the browser 632 and the 360° virtual world 112 (ifimplemented as logic) may be integrated together, and/or may beintegrated with other logic. In other embodiments, some or all of thesememory and other data manipulation functions may be provided by using aremote server or other electronic devices suitably connected via theinterest or otherwise to a client device. Other media devices 112 mayinclude some, or may omit some, of the above-described media processingcomponents. Further, additional components not described herein may heincluded in alternative embodiments.

The functionality of the media device 108, here a set top box, is nowbroadly described. In a satellite broadcast system, a media contentprovider provides media content that is received in one or more multiplemedia content streams 634 multiplexed together in one or more transportchannels. The transport channels with the media content streams 634 arecommunicated to the media device 108 from a media system sourced from aremote head end facility (not shown) operated by the media contentprovider. The media device 108 is configured to receive one or morebroadcasted satellite signals detected by an antenna (not shown).Non-limiting examples of other media systems that broadcast a mediacontent stream 634 include a cable system, a radio frequency (RF)communication system, and the Internet.

The one or more media content streams 634 are received by the mediacontent stream interface 612. One or more tuners 636 in the mediacontent stream interface 612 selectively tune to one of the mediacontent streams 634 in accordance with instructions received from theprocessor system 614. The processor system 614, executing the mediadevice logic 628 and based upon a request for a media content event ofinterest specified by a user 114, parses out media content associatedwith the media content event of interest. The media content event ofinterest is then assembled into a stream of video and/or audioinformation which may be stored by the program buffer 618 such that themedia content can be streamed out to components of the mediapresentation system 106, such as the visual display device 604, theaudio presentation device 606, and/or the HMD 106, via the presentationdevice interface 622. Alternatively, or additionally, the parsed outmedia content may be saved into the DVR 620 for later presentation. TheDVR 620 may be directly provided in, locally connected to, or remotelyconnected to, the media device 108. In alternative embodiments, themedia content streams 634 may stored for later decompression, processingand/or decryption.

From time to time, information populating the EPG information 630portion of the memory 616 is communicated to the media device 108, viathe media content stream 634 or via another suitable media. The EPGinformation 630 portion of the memory 616 stores the informationpertaining to the scheduled programming. The information may include,but is not limited to, a scheduled presentation start and/or end time, aprogram channel, and descriptive information. The program's descriptiveinformation may include the title of the program, names of performers oractors, date of creation, and a summary describing the nature of theprogram. Any suitable information may be included in the program'ssupplemental information. Upon receipt of a command from the userrequesting presentation of an EPG display, the information in the EPGinformation is retrieved, formatted, and then presented on the display608 as an EPG 640. The user 114 may specify the media content event ofinterest via the EPG 640.

The exemplary media device 108 is configured to receive commands from auser via a remote control 642. The remote control 642 includes one ormore controllers 644 disposed on the surface of the remote control 642.The user, by actuating one or more of the controllers 644, causes theremote control 642 to generate and transmit commands, via a wirelesssignal 646, to the media device 108. Preferably, each individual one ofthe controllers 644 has a specific predefined function that causes aspecific operation by the media device 108 and/or by components of themedia presentation system 602. The commands communicated from the remotecontrol 642 then control the media device 108 and/or control componentsof the media presentation system 602. The wireless signal 646 may be aninfrared (IR) signal or a radio frequency (RF) signal that is detectableby the remote interface 624.

In an example embodiment, one of the controllers 644 may be a dedicatedcontroller that is used to generate the user request that specifies themedia content event of interest that the user is interested in receivingreviews on. In practice, the user may navigate about a presented EPG 640to highlight the media content event of interest and/or search for themedia content event of interest. In response to the user's actuation ofthe dedicated controller 644, the user request is generated andcommunicated to the member avatar manager 122. In some implementation,icons may be employed for presentation on the EPG 640. An icon wouldindicate to the viewing user 114 that reviews are available forconsumption in a 360° virtual world 112.

Additionally, or alternatively, the user 114 may actuate one of thecontrollers 644 such that a currently presenting media content event isdesignated as the user specified media content event of interest. Forexample, the user may be watching a movie on their television. The user,who is interested in receiving reviews of the movie, would optionallypause the movie, put on their HMD 106, and then seek community memberreviews by experiencing their unique 360° virtual world 112.Alternatively, the user may be consuming the movie through their HMD106. Here, presentation may simply transfer from the movie into theuser's 360° virtual world 112.

Additionally, or alternatively, the controllers 644 may be operated tospecify the media content event of interest. For example, thecontrollers 644 may be arranged as a suitable alpha-numeric key pad thatpermits the user to specify the title or other suitable identifier ofthe media content event of interest. Interactive graphical userinterfaces (GUIs) now known or later developed may be user to facilitatethe user's specification using the remote control 642.

The processes performed by the media device 108 relating to theprocessing of the received media content stream 634 and communication ofa presentable media content event to the components of the mediapresentation system 106 are generally implemented by the processorsystem 614 while executing the media device logic 628. Thus, the mediadevice 108 may perform a variety of functions related to the processingand presentation of one or more media content events received in themedia content stream 634.

As used herein, an affinity is an attractive force between the user 114and a particular community member. The affinity is a quantifiable valuethat is determined based on one or more interpersonal relationshipfactors between the user 114 and the community member. A higher value ofaffinity corresponds to a stronger magnitude of attraction. in thevarious embodiments, the member avatar manager 122 computes the affinitybetween the user 114 and all community members who have provided reviewof the user specified media content event of interest. Any suitablesystem or process now known or later developed for determining values ofaffinity may be used by the various embodiments.

It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the 360°content review system 100 are merely possible examples ofimplementations of the invention. Many variations and modifications maybe made to the above-described embodiments. All such modifications andvariations are intended to be included herein within the scope of thisdisclosure and protected by the following claims.

1. A method of presenting member content reviews selected from a firstplurality of member content reviews, wherein each one of the firstplurality of member content reviews pertain to a particular mediacontent event identified by the member content review, and whereinpresented member content reviews are presented to a user using a virtualworld presentation system that presents a virtual reality world to theuser, the method comprising: receiving a user request from the user at amember avatar manager, wherein the user request comprises: a userspecification of a media content event that a user has an interest in;and a user identifier that uniquely identifies the user; identifying asecond plurality of member content reviews from the first plurality ofmember content reviews, wherein each one of the second plurality ofmember content reviews comprises at least audible commentary made by acommunity member describing the identified media content event, andwherein the identifier of the media content event of each of the secondplurality of member content reviews is the same as the user specifiedmedia content event; determining a degree of affinity between the userand each community member associated with each of the identified secondplurality of community member content reviews, wherein the determineddegree of affinity is based on an interpersonal relationship factor thatcorresponds to an interpersonal relationship between the user and eachone of the community members; selecting a third plurality of communitymember content reviews from the second plurality of community membercontent reviews, wherein the third plurality of community member contentreviews have a higher degree of affinity than the degree of affinity forthe other ones of the second plurality of community member contentreviews that are not selected; retrieving a plurality of member avatars,wherein each of the plurality of member avatars corresponds to one ofthe third plurality of member content reviews, wherein each one of theretrieved plurality of member avatars comprises: the audible commentarymade by the associated community member that describes the userspecified media content event; and graphical information that isconfigured to graphically render an animation of the member avatar;determining an initial presentation location for each one of theretrieved plurality of member avatars, wherein the initial presentationlocation of each of the member avatars in the presented virtual realityworld is determined based on the determined affinity between the userand the respective community member; communicating the plurality ofmember avatars and the associated initial presentation location to thevirtual world presentation system; and rendering and graphicallypresenting the plurality of member avatars in the virtual reality worldon a display of the virtual world presentation system, wherein each ofthe plurality of member avatars are initially presented in the virtualreality world at their respective initial presentation location, whereineach of the plurality of member avatars will audibly present the audiblecommentary made by the community member in response to a user selectionof that member avatar, and wherein the selected member avatar ispresented on the display of the virtual world presentation system as ananimated avatar presenting the audible commentary made by the communitymember.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the initial presentationlocation comprises: a polar angle, wherein the polar angle is an anglethat is measured from the user's initial direction of view when the userinitially enters into the presented virtual reality world; and aninitial perception distance, wherein the initial perception distancedefines the depth that the viewing user perceives the location of themember avatar in the presented virtual reality world, wherein the polarangle and the initial perception distance are determined based on thedetermined degree of affinity between the user and the respectivecommunity member.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the initialpresentation location further comprises: an azimuth angle, wherein theazimuth angle defines a presentation height of the member avatar that isabove or below the user when the user initially enters into thepresented virtual reality world, wherein the azimuth angle is determinedbased on the determined degree of affinity between the user and therespective community member or a characteristic of the member avatar. 4.The method of claim 2, wherein the communicated plurality of memberavatars are defined by standardized member avatar information, whereinthe standardized member avatar information includes standardizeddimensional information that is used to render the member avatar,wherein the standardized dimensional information is based on apredefined radius distance from an origin point of the virtual realityworld, and wherein rendering and graphically presenting each one of theplurality of member avatars comprises: determining a scaling factor thatcorresponds to a ratio between the predefined radius distance and theinitial perception distance; and scaling the standardized dimensionalinformation in accordance with the determined scaling factor to generatea perceived member avatar with a perceived size that corresponds to thescaled standardized dimensional information, wherein the perceivedmember avatar is then rendered and is graphically presented in theuser's virtual reality world, and wherein the perceived member avatarwill be perceived by the user as being located at a perceived distancefrom the user that corresponds to the initial perception distance. 5.The method of claim 1, wherein a number of the plurality of memberavatars reviews does not exceed a predefined number of member avatars,wherein the predefined number of member avatars is based on a virtualworld environment that has been selected by the user, and wherein theselected virtual world environment is a background that comprises imagesof a plurality of physical objects that are presented around thepresented plurality of member avatars.
 6. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a user specification of a virtual worldenvironment, wherein the specified virtual world environment is abackground that comprises images of a plurality of physical objects thatare presented around the presented plurality of member avatars, andwherein the specified virtual world environment and the plurality ofmember avatars are rendered and presented together to create the virtualreality world that is presented to the user on the display of thevirtual world presentation system.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein theuser specification of the virtual world environment is a first userspecification of a first virtual world environment, the method furthercomprising: receiving a second user specification of a second virtualworld environment after the virtual reality world is initially presentedto the user, wherein the second virtual world environment is differentfrom the first virtual world environment; presenting the virtual realityworld based on the second virtual world environment in response toreceiving the second user specification of the second virtual worldenvironment, wherein the currently presented virtual reality worldincludes the plurality of member avatars; and revising at least oneappearance characteristic of at least one of the member avatars based ona characteristic of the second virtual world environment.
 8. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: receiving a user selection of one of theplurality of member avatars, where in response to the user selection,the selected member avatar begins presentation of the audible commentarymade by the associated community member.
 9. The method of claim 8,further comprising: increasing the presentation size of the selectedmember avatar in response to receiving the user selection of one of theplurality of member avatars, wherein the viewing user perceives thatthey become closer to the selected member avatar.
 10. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising: increasing the volume of the audiblecommentary being made by the selected member avatar in response toreceiving the user selection of one of the plurality of member avatars,wherein the viewing user perceives that they are hearing the audiblecommentary of the selected member avatar over other presented sounds.11. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the user selection of oneof the plurality of member avatars comprises: detecting audible speechcurrently being spoken by the user; determining a name that has beenspoken by the user based on the detected audible speech spoken by theuser; comparing the determined name that has been spoken by the userwith community member names associated with each of the plurality ofmember avatars, wherein the associated community member name identifiesthe community member who generated the audible commentary of the memberavatar; and selecting the member avatar having the community member namethat matches the determined name that has been spoken by the user. 12.The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the user selection of one ofthe plurality of member avatars comprises: detecting a movement of ahand of the user; determining a current location of the hand of the userin response to the detected movement of the hand of the user; comparingthe determined current location of the hand of the user with perceivedpresentation locations associated with each of the plurality of memberavatars; and selecting the member avatar having the perceivedpresentation location that matches the determined current location ofthe hand of the user.
 13. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving theuser selection of one of the plurality of member avatars comprises:detecting a movement of a hand of the user; determining a currentlocation of the hand of the user in response to the detected movement ofthe hand of the user; determining a current direction of orientation ofthe hand of the user based on the determined current location of thehand of the user; comparing the determined current direction oforientation of the hand of the user with perceived presentationlocations associated with each of the plurality of member avatars; andselecting the member avatar having the perceived presentation locationthat aligns with the determined current direction of orientation of thehand of the user.
 14. The method of claim 8, wherein receiving the userselection of one of the plurality of member avatars comprises: detectinga movement of a hand of the user and concurrently detecting clappingsound created by a clapping of the hands of the user; determining acurrent location of the clapping hands of the user in response to thedetected movement of the hand of the user and the detected dappingsound; determining a current direction of orientation of the hand of theuser based on the determined current location of the hand of the user;comparing the determined current location of the hand of the user withperceived presentation locations associated with each of the pluralityof member avatars; and selecting the member avatar having the perceivedpresentation location that matches the determined current location ofthe hand of the user.
 15. The method of claim 8, wherein the virtualworld presentation system is a head mounted display (HMD), and whereinreceiving the user selection of one of the plurality of member avatarscomprises: detecting an orientation of an eye of the user with an eyeorientation sensor of the HMD; determining a current direction of viewof the user based on the determined current orientation of the eye ofthe user; comparing the determined current direction of view of the userwith perceived presentation locations associated with each of theplurality of member avatars; and selecting the member avatar having theperceived presentation location that aligns with the determined currentdirection of view of the user.
 16. The method of claim 1, wherein theplurality of member avatars is a first plurality of member avatars,wherein the virtual world presentation system is a head mounted display(HMD), and wherein rendering and graphically presenting the plurality ofmember avatars in the virtual reality world on the display of the HMDcomprises: determining an initial field of view that corresponds to aportion of the virtual reality world that is initially presented on thedisplay of the HMD; and identifying a second plurality of member avatarsfrom the first plurality of member avatars, wherein the second pluralityof member avatars each have their respective initial presentationlocation within the determined initial field of view, wherein the secondplurality of member avatars are presented on the display of the HMD, andwherein the remaining members of the first plurality of member avatarsare not rendered and presented on the display of the HMD.
 17. The methodof claim 16, wherein after initially presenting the virtual realityworld on the display of the HMD, the method further comprises: detectingmovement of the HMD when the user looks in a different direction;determining a current orientation direction of the HMD in response todetecting the movement; determining a new field of view that ispresented on the display of the HMD; and identifying a third pluralityof member avatars from the first plurality of member avatars, whereinthe third plurality of member avatars each have their respective initialpresentation location within the determined new field of view, whereinthe third plurality of member avatars are presented on the display ofthe HMD, and wherein the remaining members of the first plurality ofmember avatars are not rendered and presented on the display of the HMD.18. A method of presenting member content reviews of a media contentevent using a virtual world, the method comprising: receiving a contentreview from a community member of a social media community, wherein thecontent review comprises: audio content that is being spoken by thecommunity member; and information that uniquely identifies the mediacontent event that is being commented on by the community member;identifying an audio content portion of the received audio content thatverbally describes the community member's spoken commentary about themedia content event; generating a member avatar, wherein the memberavatar comprises: the identified audio content portion; and graphicalinformation that is configured to graphically render an animated memberavatar, wherein the member avatar is identifiable based on the mediacontent event and the identity of the community member; storing themember avatar with a plurality of member avatars, wherein each of theplurality of member avatars have audio content that verbally describesone of a plurality of media content events, and wherein each of theplurality of member avatars are associated with one of a plurality ofcommunity members who generated the audio content portion of that memberavatar; receiving a user request for a review of the media content eventfrom a user who is wearing a head mounted device (HMD) with a display,wherein a virtual reality world is presented to the user viewing thedisplay; and presenting the member avatar on the display of the HMD whenthe media content event identified in the user request is the same asthe media content event associated with the member avatar, and when anaffinity is determined that indicates that there is an interpersonalrelationship between the requesting user and the community member who isassociated with the member avatar.
 19. The method of claim 18, whereinplurality of member avatars is a first plurality of member avatars, themethod further comprising: identifying a second plurality of memberavatars from the first plurality of member avatars, wherein theassociated media content event of each of the second plurality of memberavatars are the same as the media content event identified in the userrequest; determining a degree of affinity between the user and eachcommunity member who is associated with the second plurality of memberavatars; and selecting a third plurality of member avatars from thesecond plurality of member avatars, wherein the third plurality ofmember avatars have a higher degree of affinity that the other ones ofthe second plurality of member avatars which were not selected, andwherein the third plurality of member avatars are all presentable on thedisplay of the HMD.
 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the graphicalrepresentation of the member avatar resembles the appearance of thecommunity member such that the user is able to identify the communitymember when the member avatar is presented on the display of the HMD.